Undeniable Love
by xohugzxkissezox7
Summary: Hermione, I’d die for you… but I know that no matter what I say or do, you will never accept me. Nevertheless, nothing could possibly deter my love for you.”CHAPTER 16 POSTED. REVIEWS WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE!
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters.

This is my second story that I've made. Hope you like it!

Susie

* * *

**Chapter One**

Draco Malfoy frowned while he was walking to Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley. He noticed Mudblood Granger, Weasel, and Potty were getting their school books while having the time of their lives. He also noticed another red head along with them, a tad shorter than Hermione. Draco thought to himself," Must be another Weasely. Great."

This was the last year for the rising sixth years, they finally achieved on learning the basic skills of being a wizard or witch. Now, since some of the students have their hearts set on what career path they choose, of course Hermione would know, but definitely not Harry nor Ron, they would be taking the N.E.W.T.S.

"Can you believe that it's our last year in Hogwarts!" Hermione squealed with delight. "I'm so excited! I bet this is going to be the best year ever!"

Ron, Ginny, and Harry looked at her with a weird expression in all of their faces.

"But Hermione! We're taking our N.E.W.T.S. this year, how can it be fun?" Ron asked dumbfound while looking at the very hyper Gryffindor. Hermione's eyes shined with delight, and grabbed Harry and Ron together and hugged them like she would never see them ever again. Harry and Ron were just very uncomfortable in the position that they were in. Not that it was bad hugging Hermione, just that it was weird the way Hermione was acting right now. She actually ... seemed to have fun!

Draco pushed the door open to walk inside the book store and there was a bell noise that told everyone that someone came in. Naturally the four, looked over to the door to see who came in. But had a disgusted look on their face when they noticed it was Draco Malfoy. Draco looked at his left side and noticed two red heads looking like they just saw scum; a raven haired teenager just had the same expression as the red heads, and lastly, a brunette who had an expression on her face as if she saw the most disgusting person in the world, and wished to curse him off her sight.

"This is awkward,"Draco thought to him, but shook it off and said," Weasel, what did you do to yourself! Not that you looked okay before, but trying to look like your pitiful brother? That guy who looks like a girl with long hair and earrings? Doesn't he work for those goblins at Gringotts? I can imagine when he looks at all the money people have in their vaults, when the Weasely family doesn't even have to galleons to rub against each other."

Ron did grow out his hair, but not as long as Bill did. And no, Ron did not pierce one of his ears; Molly would kill Ron before he could even walk out of the house. "No you bloody retard, ever heard of puberty? You know, when people mature? Obviously, someone hasn't grown out of his ferret stage."

"Weird, he isn't red anymore,"Draco thought to himself once again. Draco threw a glare at Ron then traveled towards Harry," Potter, I thought you would've at least concealed your stupid scar with a concealment charm. Do you still love the fame and glory that you get when people look at your scar?"

But before Harry could even speak, Hermione walked towards Draco and just standing a few inches away from him.

"Bloody Hell she smells good," Draco thought to himself, but tried to erase the thoughts, but eventually did when something hard hit him across his cheek. When he looked around and saw Hermione still standing there with a triumphant look on her face. He knew it was her.

"You know what Malfoy? You need to get a fucking life. Why don't you go buy one, I'm pretty sure your daddy will buy one for you," Hermione fired back, then she started to walk towards Harry and Ron, but stopped mid-air and turned around to look at Malfoy who was glaring at her with his silver eyes, filled with hatred. His hand was on his cheek, which was turning red, and soon visible enough to see a hand imprint on it.

"And Malfoy!"Hermione said while smiling.

"What are you smiling about -"

Hermione hit him on the other side of Draco's cheek. "There, now you can match with your other one that I just gave you ten seconds ago." Then Hermione walked off towards one of the many bookshelves. Draco obviously still in shock, from the second slap that he had just received from the same girl. Harry, Ron, and Ginny were looking at Draco, then at Hermione still visible to them, calmly reading a book.

"Bloody hell, you just got a hit from Hermione!" Ron said in a tone that seemed as if he couldn't believe what he just saw.

"No... really? I thought she kissed me," Draco said sarcastically then turned and walked away.

Hermione watched all of these happen while she was supposedly reading a book. She thought to herself," I can't believe I just hit Malfoy. Did I just hit him twice on the cheek? Omigod, what is wrong with me these days." Her train of thoughts kept on going until they were interrupted by someone who whispered 'Boo' in her ear. Hermione jumped up slightly then turned around, half-expectantly to see Harry, Ron, and Ginny exclaiming that she did the right thing and how Malfoy had deserved that. But it wasn't the three, it was someone else.

"What do you want Malfoy!"

"You look rigid." Hermione noticed that her hand imprints were still on his pale cheeks. She sort of regretted that she hit him... twice.

"Don't change the subject. What the hell do you want from me?" Hermione said while her cheeks grew red.

Draco dropped his head down and replied in a muttered voice," You." Yet Hermione could still hear him. Then he looked up at Hermione slowly, his blonde bangs covering parts of his eyes. Hermione shivered at the way he was looking at her. So, she turned to the side and broke off the stare that Malfoy was giving her. She still could feel him looking at her so she turned back around to meet his eyes again.

"Malfoy, before I curse you off my sight, tell me what do you want? And why are you hurting your reputation by even standing near a 'mudblood'?"

Draco didn't reply, so Hermione took a big sigh and closed her eyes and said," Just leave me alone."

This time Draco seemed like he was out of his strange trance, but walked towards Hermione. He came closer and closer, Hermione slowly walked back, but she stumbled and nearly fell down, when Draco's quick Seeker reflexes grabbed her by the waist. He leaned in close, so that there was only a few centimeters away from them. Hermione closed her eyes shut, thinking that Malfoy was about to kiss her.

"Is it that hard looking at me? I mean, all the other girls would be delighted that they were under my arms, but you, your closing your eyes. Do you hate me that much?" Draco whispered in her ear.

"I shouldn't be answering that question, because you should already know it," Hermione replied smartly. "And can you please let me go?"

Draco's silver-gray eyes hardened and said"See you at school." Then dropped her on the floor. Hermione yelped when she landed heavily on the floor. Draco walked at a leisurely pace, then looked towards his side, but just turned his head. His cloak billowed after him, and just a few minutes later, there was a little chime meaning, he went out of the store.

* * *

So.. how did you like it? Leave me some reviews! 


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer : I am not JK Rowling, so therefore, I do _not_ own the characters that are in this story. Yet I _do _own this plot. And what they do in the story... mwah hahahah evil laugh**

I feel so bad for not posting.. I'm so sorry!  
And thank you for all of your reviews:

Lil Red: On this chapter, I put it on italicized for thoughts and "" for talking. Would that be better?  
xoKassieox : Thank you!  
Hearts aflame : I finally updated!  
Alenor : thank you for wanting to read more  
Lat : Thanks

Thanks for all your support! Enjoy!

**

* * *

**

Chapter 2

After Draco had left from the bookstore, he wandered around Diagon Alley. Soon enough, he found Blaise and Pansy talking to some other Slytherins.

"Hey," Draco called out loudly. All of the Slytherins turned, their expressions pretty annoyed that they were interrupted, but soon turned to a smile. Well, at least Pansy and Blaise had a smile on.

"Mate! It's been a long time since I've seen you! Where've you been?" Blaise said while beckoning Draco to come over. Draco smirked and walked towards his friends.

"This summer was pretty different," Draco finally declared.

"Pretty different?" Pansy exclaimed, "Voldemort is finally gone!"

This trio did not like the fact that their parents were working together with Voldemort. They were disgusted to think that their parents would follow every command of a snake-like figure. Besides, they can't risk of being caught and put into Azkaban.

"Yeah,"Draco started, "Mum and Father are fine, just really different." Draco's father and mother were not sent to Azkaban, but they were casted strong Oblivious charms to erase the memories of Voldemort and all the wrong doings that they had done. The Malfoy Manor is still being watched by the Ministry of Magic; they have cameras that are hidden, just in case.

"My parents are just the same as yours. But then again, I like it that they don't curse the hell out of me," Pansy said calmly.

Blaise and Draco looked at Pansy sympathetically. They have been cursed so many times they can't even count how many times they were in agony and pain. Then Blaise spoke up, "So how's your summer been going?"

Pansy started blushing and the guys were groaning.

"What did you do now?" Draco groaned.

"Well, over the summer while my parents were, you know, actually normal, they made me visit my grandparents, who currently are living in Surrey. In the muggle neighborhoods," Pansy started. In the background, Blaise was muttering,"Greeeaaat"

Pansy threw a glare at Blaise, while Draco laughed. Then she cleared her throat, meaning she was going to finish. "Then while I was just walking around the neighborhood, I noticed, this guy."

"Okay, now you've gone too far," Draco told Pansy. "You slept with him, big deal."

Pansy grew red, not the blushing kind, but when you're really angry kind of red. "I did not sleep with him. I'm not like you! You sleep with almost every single girl in Slytherin, and Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. Even though I can't really imagine you with a Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. But anyways, you are just... just, ugh! Disrespectful!" Then Pansy stormed off with her other friends, while turning and looking over her shoulder and glaring at Draco.

"Mate, you've gone a little too far with that," Blaise said while giving Draco a big slap on his back.

"Did I?" Draco started, "I thought I was telling the truth. Doesn't she sleep with a lot of guys?"

Blaise nodded his head, and then started laughing, then Draco joining in.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Hermione was still remembering what Malfoy had done to her a few moments ago. So she was still sitting down on the floor, completely zoned out. Harry, Ron, and Ginny had heard something go _thump_ over where Hermione was, and noticed Draco coming out. They got worried, so they rushed over to where she was. Harry, who formed a little something for Hermione over the summer, was extremely worried of what Malfoy would've done.

_What if Malfoy kissed her, what if he hurt Mione? What if..._ his thoughts were filled with 'What if's' about what Draco could've done to Hermione.

When they looked over to the isle, they found Hermione on the floor, completely zoned out. She was sitting on the floor, and just looked unfocused. Harry bent down in front of her, and asked,"Mione are you okay?" She didn't answer, and she still looked like she was out of it. Harry gently touched Hermione's cheek, and then Hermione gasped and jumped up.

"Harry! What are you doing!" Hermione said while getting up.

Harry looked sort of hurt, thinking to himself that Hermione wouldn't want to be with him. Ron already has a girlfriend, Lavender, and Ginny was going out with Seamus. While Harry and Hermione were the only two that weren't with anyone. Ron and Ginny thought that they should be together, and nearly all of the Gryffindors. _But I guess she doesn't want to be with me._ Harry shook his head, and got up and walked towards another book isle.

Ron sighed, and said to Ginny, "I'll be over there, with Harry. You talk some sense into her."

Ginny nodded and walked closer to Hermione, while Ron walked off looking for Harry.

"Hermione, what happened?" Ginny asked calmly.

"Nothing, I think. I'll have to tell you later, not here. We'll go back to the Leaky Cauldron, and I'll tell you there. All right?" Hermione replied back.

"Okay, "Ginny happily said. She was happy that Hermione and she had gotten closer over the summer. After Harry had defeated Voldemort, everyone was going back to the Burrow to celebrate. While Harry had been eyeing Hermione, Ginny noticing, she started to talk more about Harry to Hermione. But Hermione didn't catch on, and just changed the subject.

Hermione and Ginny walked out of the store, but before Ginny finding Ron talking to Harry. She said that they were going to be in their rooms in Diagon Alley.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Draco and Blaise walked past Flourish and Blotts, Blaise not knowing that Draco had been here, decided to go inside. Draco hesitated to go in, after his encounter with Hermione.

"Blaise, why don't we just get a mug of butterbeer at the Leaky Cauldron?" Draco just decided.

"But I need to get my books. Why don't you head over there yourself, and I'll catch up with you," Blaise said.

Draco thought for a moment, and just agreed. "Fine."

Draco headed towards the Leaky Cauldron, not knowing that Hermione too, was going there.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Hermione decided to tell Ginny while they were going to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Well, you remember when I walked off? And Draco going somewhere behind? He came towards me, I thought it was you, Ron, and Harry, but when I turned around it was Malfoy. He started to come closer to me! I was so afraid of what he was going to do! But stupid me, I had to stumble, and he caught me by the waist," Hermione started.

Ginny was listening to every word that Hermione was saying out of her mouth. She was becoming curious of Draco's actions.

"So he caught me, and leaned really close. I shut my eyes, and he asked me if it was so hard to look at him at the face. And I told him he should already know the answer, and to let me go. I noticed his eyes..."

Hermione remembered when she saw Draco's eyes, they were silver and grey. She never noticed that before, well, of course she didn't, she never had the experience of him being up that close to her. Ginny noticed that Hermione zoned out again, so she started shaking her brunette friend.

"Hermione, shakebloody hell shake do you like shake Malfoy?" Ginny said that to get her attention.

"WHAT!" Hermione screamed.

"Good, I thought you were a goner! "Ginny joked around. "You were all zoning out and it seemed as if you were thinking about him." Then Ginny did a fake impression of Hermione looking up in the sky murmuring, 'He's so hot.'

"I did not say that!" Hermione said to Ginny.

"So you are admitting that you were thinking about him!" Ginny said jokingly.

Hermione turned red, "Virginia Weasely! I did no such thing!"

Ginny raised her hands up to say that she gave up. "I was just joking around Hermione. Don't get too upset."

"I'm not upset," Hermione said stubbornly.

"Okay, whatever," Ginny replied, but started laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing," Ginny replied. She had seen Draco walk into the Leaky Cauldron by himself. She thought it would be funny to "accidentally" notice him to Hermione and see if she freaks out.

"Let's hurry up! There won't be any seats left probably," Ginny rushed Hermione, while grabbing her by the arm, and practically running towards the pub.

"Ginny! What's the hurry?" Hermione asked.

"I'm just... really thirsty," Ginny lied.

When they finally got to the pub, Ginny opened the door, and started talking really loudly.

"Hermione," Ginny stressed on her friends name," let's go get some butterbeer!" Ginny once again grabbed Hermione's arm and led her over to the bar. There were some stools, and they sat on them.

"Two butterbeer please, "Hermione said politely to Tom, the bartender. Then placed a Galleon on the wooden counter. She then turned towards Ginny and said, "Ginny, what is the matter with you? Yelling your head off while we're coming in here, like you wanted someone to -" Hermione stopped abruptly. She noticed Draco who was drinking butterbeer, and reading a book.

Ginny noticed this, and turned around quickly to glance at who Hermione was looking at. She saw Draco, and gave a faint smile, then turned around.

"Look who's here!" Ginny whispered.

"Two butterbeers for the ladies," Tom said gruffly while setting down the bottles.

"Ginny," Hermione whispered back, "Let's go up to our rooms. I don't feel comfortable in here."

"Why not!" Ginny answered in the same tone as her friend.

"You know why, so come on!" Hermione got up while taking her bottle with her. "You can stay here if you want to, but I'm going to be in my room," she declared.

"Room 707?" Ginny asked really loudly.

"Yes Ginny, now stop with the shouting, "Hermione said while turning around and leaving to her room.

Ginny glanced back towards Draco, who was still reading, and got up and followed Hermione.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Draco was calmly reading a spare book that he had in his robes, more likely a textbook, but who cares. Something to keep his mind off of. He was reading his book while drinking butterbeer, when a loud noise came from the entrance. He looked up and saw Ginny and Hermione. Ginny looking full of energy, while Hermione looked as if she was trying to calm down the fiery red head. He laughed to himself, and looked back towards his book. He heard Ginny yell," Hermione, let's go get some butterbeer!"

He then noticed that they were going to probably sit next to him, but he was partially wrong. They weren't sitting next to him, just a few seats away.

_Great... just what I need. A very loud girl to disturb my reading, and ... and... Granger just there. _Draco thought.

He continued reading his book with interest. It was about muggles. Yes, once again, Draco Malfoy was reading about muggles. His parents thought it would be nice to learn about the muggle society in England. He was extremely shocked; his parents wanted him to take Muggle Studies. That means, him taking classes with that conniving mudblood, Hermione Granger.

Draco continued reading, until he heard very very annoying whispering sounds coming from the two girls to the left. He placed his left hand on his head and his right keeping the page where he was reading. He became very aggravated by the whisperings. He was about to leave, when he heard a chair being moved. Draco looked sideways for a second and noticed that Hermione was getting up and telling her friend that she was going to be in her room. Then Draco heard the Weasely girl yelling the room number, well, loud enough so Draco could hear. Was he getting the impression that Ginny wanted him to no her friend's room number so he could visit her up there? He didn't think of it anymore because Blaise came in the pub with books in hand.

"Hey,"Draco said looking at the loads of books that Blaise was carrying. Then came Pansy with nothing in her hand, but she was smirking.

Blaise gasped from the heaviness of all the books, until his blonde haired friend helped him put them down on the wooden counter.

"Pansy (breath of air) made me (big breath of air) carry her books (sigh) and mine," Blaise said heavily. "She's a witch I tell you!"

"If you're tired, you could always go upstairs," Draco told his raven haired friend.

"I guess,"Blaise said while eyeing Draco's butterbeer.

"Take it, I barely drank out of it,"Draco replied noticing Blaise eyeing it. "Well, I'm going to get a room. Be right back," Draco said while walking towards Tom.

"Can I have a room?" Draco asked.

"What kind of room?" Tom replied to his question.

"What kind of rooms are there?"

"Regular ones, with one bed and a bathroom. There are those suites with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, and -" Tom said in a monotonous tone, but got cut off by Draco.

"I'll have a suite," Draco said while getting out his galleons.

"Big spender," Tom muttered to himself. Then said,"That'll be ... er- .. five galleons for one night. How many nights yer staying?"

"Five," Draco replied curtly.

'Then that'll be..."Tom said while counting his fingers then stopped,"Twenty five galleons, please."

Draco placed all twenty five shimmering gold galleons on the counter. Then waited for the key that the innkeeper was getting.

"Yeh don't mind if it's room 708 do yeh? Only suite that's left," Tom asked, hoping that it would be okay.

Draco smirked to himself, and nodded his head. Then taking the key, he went back to Blaise who was arguing with Pansy.

"Pansy, I'm not carrying those anymore. Noooway."

"Blaise, your such a wimp."

"Whatever, you try carrying those books. Your arms will come off!"

"You guys! Shut the hell up! They are just books!" Draco yelled at the two, quite peeved. "My rooms 708, so come up any time." Then he left with a swish of a cloak towards the staircases.

Blaise and Pansy looked at Draco leave, and then looked at each other.

"What's the matter with him?" Pansy asked.

"Dunno..." Blaise replied, then ruffled his hair, "Something's wrong with him today, he seemed a little _different_..."

"Yeah..."

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Hermione was peacefully reading on some books that she had gotten the day before, a textbook of transfigurations. But she was soon interrupted from the chapter about being an animagus. There was a knock on the door and she let it pass, thinking it was room service or something, but it was just Ginny.

"Hermione!" Ginny yelled, "Open the door for me, will you?"

Hermione screamed back, "Don't you have your own key!"

"Yeah! But Ron took mine!" Ginny said back.

"Fine," Hermione replied.

Hermione placed her transfiguration book next to her and got up. She slowly ambled towards the door, and paused for a moment, then looked down at her clothes. She had changed to something more comfortable, a white tank top with blue and white striped shorts. She shrugged, guessing nobody would see her except for Ginny, so she opened the door. She got out and left some door space open, Hermione didn't bring her key with her, and the door was locked.

"Hermione what were you doing up here?" Ginny asked while looking around the hallway.

"Oh, just reading a book.. or two,"Hermione answered casually like she did this everyday.

"A book or two Hermione? You've got to be nuts!"

Hermione just waved the topic off and said,"I thought you were going to be downstairs, finishing that butterbeer."

"How 'bout you? You didn't finish your butterbeer downstairs," Ginny started, then slyly smiled,"Because you saw Malfoy."

"That- ... that is not true!" Hermione answered, but her cheeks responded differently by becoming red. She practically jumped at her friend, then heard the door close behind them.

"Did I hear what I think I heard?"Hermione said in a panicky voice.

"You mean the door shutting behind you and we have no way to get back in unless we wait for Harry and Ron? Then yes you did hear right," Ginny replied, but not bothered by it. Well, she wouldn't be, she was in regular clothing, but Hermione on the other hand, has a tank top and shorts.

Hermione groaned and turned around and started to rattle the brass doorknob. The door didn't budge, Hermione groaned louder, and started to bang her head on the door.

"I (thump) am (thump) so (thump) STUPID! (thump thump)" Hermione said while holding on the door.

"Hermione, it's okay! We can just, sit around here, and wait till Harry and Ron comes back," Ginny said trying to comfort her very distressed friend.

"URGH!" Hermione groaned then hit the door with her hand.

"Difficulties with the door?" A different voice came from the side.

Hermione and Ginny looked at their left side; nobody was there, then the right. They saw Draco Malfoy walking towards his room, but noticing Hermione and Ginny. It was an odd sight, a tall brunette banging her head on a door, while a red head was just leaning on the the other side, watching and talking to her.

"Just go away Malfoy, I don't need your problems too," Hermione replied.

Draco, of course not listening to Hermione, went towards the two and leaned against the wall near Hermione.

"You could always use your wand you know," Draco told the two smartly.

Hermione hadn't thought of that, but replied,"I know, but I have my wand back in the room."

Ginny had her wand, but she didn't say anything.

Draco took Ginny's silence as a no and he muttered to himself, "And they call themselves witches. Don't even carry around their wands."

Hermione was leaning on the door; she was definitely messed up if Malfoy had to help her. Draco raised his wand and was halfway saying the Alohamora spell, when an Expelliarmus spell hit him and made him drop his wand. He looked behind him to see Harry, but was met with Harry's fist which landed on his cheek. (a/n : ouch.. he got hit by Hermione.. twice.. and now getting beaten up by Harry. aww I feel sorry for writing this and hurting Draco... Oh, and if your wondering why there isn't a notice for underage wizardry. All of them are of age, well except for Ginny. So they _can_ use spells, just not really powerful ones.)

Hermione screamed,"Harry, stop!"

Harry didn't listen. So she yelled again, "Ron! Make him stop!"

Ron nodded and went over to Harry and Draco who were throwing hits at each other.

"Mate! Stop! Hermione wants you to stop," Ron said while trying to get Harry away from Malfoy.

Harry stopped when he heard Hermione's name. "What! Why!"

Hermione screamed, "BECAUSE HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"

Harry looked beweildered, "But Mione..."

"No Harry, do NOT give me any ' but Mione' right now!" Hermione said then stormed off to the other side of the hall. She had nowhere to go, but at least she's getting away from Harry and Malfoy.

Ginny started to run after Hermione, but then turned back around and said, "Harry you were kind of overreacting." Then just tried to follow Hermione, wherever she was going.

Draco glared at Harry, his lip was cut and his eye started bruising, but then again, Harry had almost the same injuries as him.

"Nice going, Pothead," Draco said to Harry while walking past him to go into his room. When he did, Harry threw a hit against a wall, his knuckles partially bleeding now.

"I'm such a jerk," Harry groaned.

"No, you were just worried that Hermione was going to get hurt. Nothing wrong with that," Ron said, hopefully cheering him up.

"Yeah, but she's really mad at me now."

"Well, ... yeah, but she'll forgive you! You can give her a big sad smile and maybe she'll pity you, _and then_ forgive you," Ron told him.

Harry just sighed, and walked towards the door and said, "Stupid bloody door."

Ron pushed Harry towards the side and opened the door and walked in, Harry following after him.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Hermione stopped at the dead end of the hallway, unlike muggle inns, this had a dead end at the beginning of the numbers. Hermione fell down on the ground and started crying. When Ginny caught up with Hermione, she sighed and slowly walked towards her friend. She sat next to her and gently placed her hand on Hermione's shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Ginny whispered.

"You all ready know," Hermione sobbed.

"No," Ginny replied in a firm tone, "I _don't_ so can you explain why you are crying?" Ginny had always acted like a mother at these times. Especially at Hogwarts when Malfoy would make fun of her looks, or her blood, or anything that was a something as small as a little smudge on her face from ink. Ginny felt like this was a different reason.

"I -" Hermione hiccupped, so she took a deep breath to try and calm herself down. When she finally stopped hiccupping, she started again, "I'm having the worst day ever, Gin. First it's Malfoy talking to me kindly, which scared me out of my mind. And when you, Harry, and Ron came, Harry... just. I don't know! He seemed as if he ... I can't really explain it, but I really didn't like it. Then later you, yes you, were talking loud in front of Malfoy making him listen to almost every single thing. Including our room number! And when I come out, the door shuts and Malfoy comes upstairs, and asking about us, and when he's trying to fix our door, Harry and Ron come out of no where and curse him! So then they fight just because of that stupid bloody door!"

Ginny listened intently, and then replied when Hermione was finished, "Look, I'm sorry about the whole shouting thing, but I was just checking if Malfoy would even notice. And about Harry, I need to tell you something that I think I should've told you while we were at the Burrow."

Hermione looked up at Ginny, "What do you mean about Harry. It's not as if he likes me or something."

Ginny smiled faintly, Hermione gasped.

"No! You're kidding right!" Hermione asked in a quick voice. She was hoping that this wasn't true, it couldn't be true. Harry liking her, it was just out of the question!

Ginny replied, "I'm afraid I'm not. But Hermione, give him a chance, he's been swooning over you this summer, and telling my brother about how he felt the same kind of feelings over the years, but never really clicked on to it until now."

Ginny was half-heartedly hoping that Hermione would've been happy that Harry liked her, but the other, she didn't want Hermione to just forcefully act like she liked Harry back. Then Ginny added, "But of course, you don't really have to like him, just I needed to tell you that."

Hermione touched her cheek, where Harry had at the bookstore, then stood up and ran.

"I have something to say to a certain someone!" Hermione yelled while she ran.

"I am sooooo tired of running after her!" Ginny told herself, but just ran after her friend wanting to know what's going to happen.

* * *

Hm... wonder wonder.. R&R!

Luv you all!  
Susie

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own harrypotter!**

Yess, I have two chapters. I was working on them, so it would be easier and faster. Hope you like it!

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Three**

Harry and Ron were in their rooms, not talking to each other. Harry was on the floor leaning against his bed, while Ron was lying down on his bed.

"You know Harry, you did beat the hell out of Malfoy. It'll take _weeks_ to clear up that mess," Ron said while laughing a little.

"I guess so," Harry hoarsely replied, but made no other conversation.

Harry was thinking about how to apologize to Hermione and tell her that he was just kind of jealous. While Ron was thinking over the part where Harry hit Draco really hard. He laughed inside his head at how Ferret face gotten beaten up. He didn't' even think about Harry's injuries, even if they were the same level as Malfoy's.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Draco decided to take a shower; he had a long day today. While he was under the warm water, he was thinking about what happened at the bookstore...

_"What do you want Malfoy!" _

_"You look rigid." Hermione noticed that her hand imprints were still on his pale cheeks. She sort of regretted that she hit him... twice. _

_"Don't change the subject. What the hell do you want from me?" Hermione said while her cheeks grew red. _

_Draco dropped his head down and replied in a muttered voice,"You." Yet Hermione could still hear him. Then he looked up at Hermione slowly, his blonde bangs covering parts of his eyes. Hermione shivered at the way he was looking at her. So, she turned to the side and broke off the stare that Malfoy was giving her. She still could feel him looking at her so she turned back around to meet his eyes again._

_"Malfoy, before I curse you off my sight, tell me what do you want? And why are you hurting your reputation by even standing near a 'mudblood'?" _

_Draco didn't reply, so Hermione took a big sigh and closed her eyes and said,"Just leave me alone." _

_This time Draco seemed like he was out of his strange trance, but walked towards Hermione. He came closer and closer, Hermione slowly walked back, but she stumbled and nearly fell down, when Draco's quick Seeker reflexes grabbed her by the waist. He leaned in close, so that there were only a few centimeters away from them. Hermione closed her eyes shut, thinking that Malfoy was about to kiss her. _

_"Is it that hard looking at me? I mean, all the other girls would be delighted that they were under my arms, but you, your closing your eyes. Do you hate me that much?" Draco whispered in her ear. _

_"I shouldn't be answering that question, because you should already know it," Hermione replied smartly. "And can you please let me go?" _

_Draco's silver-gray eyes hardened and said,"See you at school." Then dropped her on the floor. Hermione yelped when she landed heavily on the floor. Draco walked at a leisurely pace, then looked towards his side, but just turned his head. His cloak billowed after him, and just a few minutes later, there was a little chime meaning, he went out of the store. _

Then remembering just what happened a few minutes ago ...

_"Difficulties with the door?" A different voice came from the side. _

_Hermione and Ginny looked at their left side, nobody was there, then the right. They saw Draco Malfoy walking towards his room, but noticing Hermione and Ginny. It was an odd sight, a tall brunette banging her head on a door, while a red head was just leaning on the the other side, watching and talking to her. _

_"Just go away Malfoy, I don't need your problems too," Hermione replied. _

_Draco, of course not listening to Hermione, went towards the two and leaned against the wall near Hermione. _

_"You could always use your wand you know," Draco told the two smartly. _

_Hermione hadn't thought of that, but replied,"I know, but I have my wand back in the room." _

_Ginny had her wand, but she didn't say anything. _

_Draco took Ginny's silence as a no and he muttered to himself, "And they call themselves witches. Don't even carry around their wands."  
_

_Hermione was leaning on the door, she was definitely messed up if Malfoy had to help her. Draco raised his wand and was halfway saying the Alohamora spell, when an Expelliarmus spell hit him and made him drop his wand. He looked behind him to see Harry, but was met with Harry's fist which landed on his cheek. _

_Hermione screamed,"Harry, stop!" _

_Harry didn't listen. So she yelled again, "Ron! Make him stop!" _

_Ron nodded and went over to Harry and Draco who were throwing hits at each other. _

_"Mate! Stop! Hermione wants you to stop," Ron said while trying to get Harry away from Malfoy. _

_Harry stopped when he heard Hermione's name. "What! Why!" _

_Hermione screamed, "BECAUSE HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" _

_Harry looked bewildered, "But Mione..." _

_"No Harry, do NOT give me any ' but Mione' right now!" Hermione said then stormed off to the other side of the hall. She had nowhere to go, but at least she's getting away from Harry and Malfoy. _

_Ginny started to run after Hermione, but then turned back around and said, "Harry you were kind of overreacting." Then just tried to follow Hermione, wherever she was going. _

_Draco glared at Harry, his lip was cut and his eye started bruising, but then again, Harry had almost the same injuries as him. _

_"Nice going, Pothead," Draco said to Harry while walking past him to go into his room. _

Draco thought again about how Hermione sort of stuck up for him.

_She did try and stop Pothead from hitting me. Or she could've been worried about me hitting Pothead too much. THAT's just gross... _

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Hermione was running till she finally found her room number. She kind of had to skid to a stop, but at least it worked. Following behind her was Ginny Weasely telling Hermione, "Hermione you better not tell him what I just told you! And can you please stop running around everywhere?"

The Gryffindor didn't listen but knocked on the door.

Harry and Ron heard the knock, they both got up, but Ron insisted, "Harry, I'll go."

But Harry just didn't listen to him and went to the door and opened it. He hadn't expected Hermione to come back, but he was still happy.

Hermione waited until someone opened the door, when that someone did, his eyes lighted up when his eyes met hers. She half-smiled and Harry moved out of the way so she could come in. He was about to close the door, but Ginny called out, "Wait Harry! Don't close it! Not yet!" Harry had the door opened for Ginny, and when Ginny came in, she closed the door behind herself. Harry was about to leave, but Ginny grabbed Harry's arm and told him, "Harry, whatever Hermione tells you, it didn't come from me."

Harry looked at her questioningly, and Ginny just said, "Nevermind."

While Harry was at the door, Hermione was in the bathroom getting some ointment and things to help with cuts and bruises. She walked out with a basketful of medicine. She noticed that Ginny came in behind her, so that was good. She probably needed to hear this also. Hermione walked over to the bedroom where Ron and Harry slept in, and sat on Harry's bed. Ron was facing Hermione's direction and vice versa with Hermione. There was an awkward silence between them, nothing to talk about. Then Ron spoke up.

"You aren't mad at Harry are you?"

Hermione's eyes grew wide, surprised that Ron just attacked her with that question. She thought considerably, and then shook her head. "No, I'm not mad at him, well, maybe just a little bit. You know, Malfoy was just trying to help me out."

When Hermione had said the world 'Malfoy', Ron had a disgusted look on his face.

"What can a ferret do for you, Hermione?"

"Oh shut up Ron."

Harry had waited for Hermione and Ron to finish their conversation, but of course, he had heard everything.

_Yes! Hermione isn't mad at me! _Harry thought to himself, and then smiled. Ginny, who was standing right beside Harry, looked at him for a moment noticing the smile on his face. Ginny smiled herself and shook her head. Even if Ron and Hermione were talking about other things, Harry wouldn't budge; he had his eyes on Hermione at all times.

"You know Harry," Ginny started, obviously bothered by Harry, "it wouldn't _hurt_ if you could walk and talk to her."

"Huh? What? Sure, okay," Harry said, oblivious of what Ginny Weasely just said to him.

Ginny grew impatient with the raven haired boy, so she smacked him on the back of his head.

"Ow! Ginny! What was that for!" Harry said in an annoyed tone.

"_That_ was for getting you out of your 'trance' in looking at Hermione," Ginny said stating the obvious.

"Er-.. right," Harry said while blushing crimson. He coughed then walked out towards the room. Still red from his former encounter, he sat next to Hermione, not to close, but still in a friendly way. Ginny followed after him, but sitting next to her brother.

Hermione and Ron had both heard a loud smack and an 'ow' from the hallway, they figured it was Ginny hitting Harry on the head, and they were right. Hermione looked at Harry, the red slowly fading.

"Harry, why are you blushing?" Hermione simply asked.

"What? No, I'm not blushing, it's just really hot inside here," Harry replied while fanning himself with his hand.

"Right," Ginny said sarcastically. "And my hair is just red because of all the hot peppers I eat everyday."

Ron queried, "You eat hot pepper eat everyday?"

"No, you stupid oaf!"

Hermione, ignoring the two siblings fighting, noticed Harry's hand, it was red and swelling from him hitting the wall. She grabbed Harry's hand, and caught Harry off guard.

"What in Merlin's beard did you do to yourself?" Hermione said in a concerned voice. She turned around grabbing the basket that she had with her. While Hermione was unscrewing the top of an ointment, Harry said, "Oh, just hit the wall." She still couldn't get the bottle open, Harry noticed, he offered his help, so she gave it to him. He opened it and handed it back to Hermione. She dabbed the liquidy substance on the palm of her hand, she settled Harry's hand on her legs, then bent slightly down to dab some of the medicine on his hand.

Ginny hit her brother on the side with her elbow. He yelled out, but Ginny hushed him up then whispered,"We should get to another room. They might want to have some 'quality' time with each other." Then she said out loud,"Hermione, I'm going to get some more butterbeer downstairs."

"Mmkay." Hermione replied still rubbing on the medicine. Harry looked at Hermione adoringly.

She got up then motioned her hand out the door towards Ron.

"Oh, um... I think I'm going to get some butterbeer also," Ron said while getting up and following his sister.

Hermione finished with Harry's hand, and looked at his face.

"I think they're just trying to give us alone time to talk about things," Hermione smartly said.

"Yeah, I guess so," Harry said while giving a weak laugh.

Hermione smiled at her friend, but looked down at the floor then said,"Er-... Harry."

"Yeah?" Harry grew worried, _I hope she doesn't get onto the subject of ... _

"Do you remember what happened at Flourish and Blotts today?" Hermione said still looking down. She was trying to get Harry to say what Ginny had told her, and of course to see if it was true.

"Oh, um.. when you hit Malfoy? Bloody hell, I'll never forget that one," Harry hopefully said. _Don't say about the part when I touched your cheek. _

"No, when you touched my cheek when I was on the floor. I know that I said 'What are you doing?' and you looked hurt. Why Harry? You've never looked like that except when you came back from Hogsmeade with that disastrous date with Cho. Harry sighed when he remembered what happened at that time. Then noticed that Hermione had asked that question.

"Well, I was ... just worried about what Malfoy might have done to you. And.. I don't know, it just happened," Harry said. Hermione couldn't say anything, even if she could shout it in her mind. _For Merlin's sake, why Harry? WHY! Ginny told me you started to like me over the summer. Why did you go on and attack Malfoy? Yes, I know that he was holding out his wand, but not at me or Ginny! Even if Malfoy looks like that-kind-of-sort-to-curse-someone's-ass-off-to-who-he-doesn't-like. But he's probably not! I don't bloody care if I'm standing up for Malfoy! It's just plain wrong for you to do that. Especially hitting him! Harry your just hurting yourself! _But she didn't have the heart to, she couldn't, the words didn't form in her mouth. So it just ended up as a long awkward silence. Hermione couldn't stand it so she thought to herself _I better just talk about something else. _

"Harry, let me see your face," Hermione said looking at her friend.

Harry who was still looking down didn't agree with Hermione's request. Hermione just lifted his face with her hand and looked at the sides to see if there were any other marks that she should fix up. After she attended to Harry's soon forming black eye, she got up and started to walk towards the door, but Harry grabbed Hermione's hand.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked protectively for the weirdest reason. He felt as if she was going to go see Malfoy.

Hermione slid her hand out of Harry's and answered,"Since when did I have to tell you where I'm going to be?" Hermione was just joking, but Harry didn't care.

"Because I bloody care about where you're going," Harry muttered while looking down at the floor.

Hermione sighed softly, and replied in a whispered voice,"If you want to know, I'm going over to Malfoy's."

That made Harry's boiling point go haywire. _So Hermione _is_ going to go over to Malfoy. _

"What the fuck, Hermione! Why the hell are you going into Ferret's room! Are you out of your bloody mind!" Harry shouted while standing up as if he would stop her from going.

"Harry, I have every right to go and see him if want to! And yes Harry I'm out of my bloody mind like you said," Hermione added sarcastically. She paused for a moment then said," You're acting as if you're my boyfriend, but Harry, you're not." Then Hermione stormed out of the room still clutching her basket and wand. Harry yelled at himself, and kicked his bed.

Hermione slammed the door behind her, she was on the verge of tears. Then tried cheering herself up. _Harry's just acting like this because he's caring about me that I'm going over to Malfoy. It's not like I'm going to do anything. I just wanted to thank him, if Malfoy would even let me. _

Hermione wiped away a tear that fell down and tried to make herself look cheerful. She walked towards Draco's door, and was about to knock, but stopped. Thoughts penetrated her mind _What if he just shuts the door in front of my face? What if he's not even there? WHAT IF...!_ Hermione shook her head trying to get the thoughts out of her mind. So she knocked anyways, she heard Draco yell,"Blaise? Or is it Pansy!" Draco, currently just came out of the shower, with a towel on his waist. He waited for an answer, but there was none, he headed over to the door.

Hermione didn't dare answer, besides, she didn't know what to say. When she heard someone coming up to the door, she sniffed and just looked away from the door while grabbing her basket with both of her hands. When Draco opened the door, he found Hermione standing in front looking the other way. Hermione heard Draco open the door, for a moment she looked at the other side, and then looked at Draco. She tried and forced a smile, it was a little hard, especially when he only had a towel on his waist. Draco could tell that Hermione was forcing a smile, but all he was wondering was why she was even here.

"Um... Hey," Hermione said still trying to smile, but when she looked into Draco's eyes, she immediately thought of what Harry would say if she was right here. What he would do also. A tear ran down her cheek, she hurriedly wiped it away from her cheek.

"What's wrong?" Draco asked softly. He normally wouldn't show this side of him, but in this case he had to. He knew for a fact that Granger would never shed a tear in front of him.

"Oh.. It's nothing," Hermione said still forcing her smile.

"You know Granger, you can stop smiling know. It's kind of scaring me, you don't smile at me... _ever_," Draco told the brunette Gryffindor while leaning against

"Just trying to be nice," Hermione told the Slytherin.

"Did I just hear you say you were trying to be nice? To me?" Draco said completely flabbergasted.

"Just shut up," Hermione said while gripping her basket harder.

Draco eyed Hermione's basket, it was full of medicine and ointments. _OOooookay, she has ointment, I wonder if that's for me, cause I _really_ need some right now._

"Ookay..." Draco started. When Hermione didn't answer he sighed and said,"Why don't you go off the Pott Head, he might help you or whatever. Besides,it's getting cold right now." Draco started to shut the door when Hermione yelled out,"Wait!"

He slowly opened the door and answered,"Yes?"

"I need to tell you something," Hermione whispered while looking down.

"Pardon?"

"I need to tell you something," Hermione repeated, but just a little bit louder.

"Right, ... sooo.. what is it?" Draco asked, wondering himself what on earth she would want to say.

"Er-, can I come in?" Hermione asked, it was really her only choice. _Oh Merlin, this is really wrong and different. Malfoy is so going to say no. _

The Slytherin looked shocked, when he slowly started recover, he pointed behind him. He really couldn't say anything right now.

Hermione sighed,"I told you I had to tell you something." _I can always leave now._ "But, I can just go downstairs and leave you alone."

Draco coughed and said,"No, it's all right." Then he moved his body sideways so Hermione could pass, when she did go in, she caught a whiff of Draco's aftershave. (a/n: whatever Draco's aftershave would be. What would you think he would smell like?) Whatever it was, to Hermione it smelled very good.

Draco looked to the right and the left, just incase anybody saw them, when nobody was there, he closed the door.

Little did either of them know, someone was watching their every move.

* * *

Dear lord, I forgot to say, did you all read the HBP? I thought it was just horrible. No offense to those who liked it. I just didn't think it was all that great. Just a very weird fanfiction that somebody else wrote. It's not like JK. I think? Oh well, who am I to say. 

Read and Review please! So I know if it's good or not!

Luv always  
Susie


	4. Chapter 4

**_DISCLAIMER : I DO NOT OWN THE HARRY POTTER CHARACTERS! _**

I hope you didn't wait so long for this chapter, I've been busy, and well, I was writing in my document thingie and not updating.. I hope you like this chapter!

xXx33 Susie

**

* * *

Chapter four: Friends?**

Harry kept on kicking the bed with his foot, until he couldn't feel his leg anymore.

_Hermione, do you hate me that much? _

He slumped down with his back onto the bed, his knees up and his head resting on them. He could still hear Hermione's words, sharp and to the point.

_"Where are you going?" Harry asked protectively for the weirdest reason. He felt as if she was going to go see Malfoy. _

_Hermione slid her hand out of Harry's and answered, "Since when did I have to tell you where I'm going to be?" Hermione was just joking, but Harry didn't care. _

_"Because I bloody care about where you're going," Harry muttered while looking down at the floor. _

_Hermione sighed softly, and replied in a whispered voice, "If you want to know, I'm going over to Malfoy's." _

_That made Harry's boiling point go haywire. So Hermione is going to go over to Malfoy. _

_"What the fuck, Hermione! Why the hell are you going into Ferret's room! Are you out of your bloody mind!" Harry shouted while standing up as if he would stop her from going. _

_"Harry, I have every right to go and see him if want to! And yes Harry I'm out of my bloody mind like you said," Hermione added sarcastically. She paused for a moment then said," You're acting as if you're my boyfriend, but Harry, you're not." Then Hermione stormed out of the room still clutching her basket and wand._

He couldn't hear himself think, the scene kept on going over his head. Over and over, not stopping, making him feel so guilty for yelling at Hermione. But for a moment this all stopped and he thought to himself, _I shouldn't be the one sorry, she should. Yeah, why would she even go to Malfoy! ... Does she like him? NO, that's impossible, or is it? ARGHH! _

Harry slammed his fist on the floor really hard, not caring about the tenants who were in the room below. Harry just sat for awhile, thinking and thinking, not knowing what to do now. Someone knocked on the door suddenly; Harry looked up quickly and looked around dumbly. _Could it be Hermione?_ Harry picked himself up and walked towards the door, sort of limping because of hitting the bed so hard. He opened the door and found Ron and Ginny instead of Hermione. His eyes were full of happiness, thinking maybe just maybe that Hermione would come back to him. But when he saw that it was them, his eyes turned cold and disappointed.

"Oh," Harry said while averting his eyes,"hey."

"Were you expecting someone else, mate?" Ron asked in a calm tone.

"No," Harry replied coldly, then turned around and walked towards the bed again. Ron and Ginny looked at each and shrugged, then followed Harry into their room. Once Ginny glanced at the messed up room, she gasped and placed her hand over her mouth. The room was cluttered beyond the imagination; the bed was partially crooked, the lamp over thrown, the tables over turned. Ron shook his head from side to side, it was obvious that Hermione didn't want to be with him; Ginny tugged a piece of Ron's clothing and looked up at him. Ron's eyes immediately told her what had happened.

"H-Harry? Wh-where's H... Hermione?" Ginny stuttered, afraid of what Harry would do, lash out at her, or just say something calmly.

Harry sighed and replied,"Malfoy's."

That one word made Ron and Ginny's head spin out of control. Ginny almost fell over from shock, and Ron was turning red with anger.

"What the hell is she doing in there!" Ron asked, well more likely shouted.

"I wouldn't know," Harry said pitifully.

Ron turned back to his normal color, but still angry.

"Don't you know at least ONE thing!"

"Damn it Ron, she was mad all right!" Harry shouted.

Ginny just sat down on a couch, and tried to think of Hermione Granger with Draco Malfoy. But a few minutes later, Ginny just said, "Wicked."

Ron and Harry's head jerked towards Ginny who turned red from embarrassment.

"What's so wicked about Hermione with Malfoy, Gin?" Ron asked.

"I dunno, maybe because he's one hell of a guy. I mean, have you seen his body! Ginny replied while turning a brighter shade of red.

"You mean, my sister, Virginia Weasely has seen Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret's body? I am scarred for the rest of my life because of that," Ron said in a joking but stern voice.

"Ron, you're ... your -"

"Undeniably irresistible? Yes, I know," Ron said teasing his little sister.

"Ron, you're sick."

Harry shook his head, but he still wasn't calm with the fact that Hermione was with Draco Malfoy, maybe even alone for all he cares.

_o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o._

"So..." Draco said stretching out the syllables as long as he could.

Hermione just stared at Draco's very toned stomach and said," I -uh... I mean. Could you- um..."

Draco looked at Hermione's face and followed down where she was looking at, and when he noticed that she was staring at his abs, he started to snicker. Soon the snicker turned into a chuckle, and then the chuckle turned into a bark of laughter. Hermione who was still looking at Draco's abs, immediately looked up when she heard Draco Malfoy, laughing.

"What's with you," Hermione asked.

"You..." Draco said in between his laughter.

"What about me," Hermione asked thinking that something was on her face. She said this while feeling her face for anything.

"NO, not you're FACE!"

"Then bloody hell, what it is!" Hermione said in a pissed voice.

"Do you like my abs?" Draco said while smirking. Hermione blushed a brightly and looked down while Draco fell back on the bed and started laughing hysterically.

"It's not funny," Hermione whispered. That made him laugh even more, but in the end, he controlled his laughter, but there were a few snickers here and there.

"So, cough what did you want to see me for?" Draco asked while looking through the drawers to find some clothes.

"Well, I sort of wanted to apologize after what Harry did to you, and well, Ithoughtyoumighthaveneededsomemedicine," Hermione said while rushing through the last set of words. (A/n: I definitely know how she feels. especially when your around someone you like. but ... she doesn't like him. sort of)

"Pardon?" Draco had caught the first part, where Hermione wanted to apologize for what Potthead had done, but the last phrase, he couldn't get. It was like she wasn't even speaking English or something.

Hermione rocked back and forth and finally sighed, "I thought you might have needed some medicine, so I came here." A slow blush started to rise on her cheeks.

Draco was about to laugh, but choked on his laughter. Hermione got the wrong message, thinking that Draco didn't want her to be with him or just help him. So she said, "Um.. Right. Okay, I'll be leaving now." She started to walk away from him towards the door, when he grabbed her by the arm. He cleared his throat and said in a whisper, "Don't go."

Hermione looked at Draco questioningly, "I thought you wanted me to leave."

"I don't know, I guess you could stay, for awhile," Draco replied while grabbing a pair of black boxers and a pair of jeans.

"How long is awhile?" Hermione asked smartly.

"Don't push it. I'll be right back," Draco said in a serious tone while holding up his clothes.

"Okay... "

"All right," Draco answered Hermione's slow wording, he paused for a second before going into the bathroom and changing.

Hermione sat down on a nearby chair; it was a dark red with a very plushy back and seat. She bounced up and down on it just for fun, then stopped and waited for Draco to lock or shut his door. Then a stream of thoughts came tumbling. (A/n: the _italicized_ letters is Hermione's thoughts while the **bold** letters is Hermione's conscience.)

Hermione's POV

'_Draco isn't really being an annoying prat like he usually is to me. Well, besides what happened at Flourish and Blotts, but otherwise, yes, he's a self conceited little prat. ' _

**Then why are you in here the first place, eh? **

'_I don't know! .. Well, yes I do, damn it! You know it too! ' _

**Hey, watch your language, missy. But really, why are you here in the first place? It's seems as if you don't give a care about Malfoy. But then why are you hanging around IN HIS ROOM, ALONE! **

'_I wanted to help him with his... I guess you could call them injuries from Harry. ' _

**So what are you going to do about the Harry problem?**

'_How would I know? He's ... different this year. Remember when Ginny said that he-.. He liked me. Which I cannot possibly believe, but then again another part of me (not you) thinks that he does. Is this normal!' _

**Do you think you might possibly like him?**

'_Who? Malfoy? ' _

**No, smart one, I was talking about Harry. But OBVIOUSLY somebody has a crush on a ferret. **

"I. DO. NOT. HAVE. A. CRUSH. ON. A. FERRET!" It took Hermione a few seconds to put it all in that she had just said that out loud.

End of Hermione's POV

Draco's part now, not a pov though. There will be one.

Draco walked off towards the bathroom with his boxers, jeans, and a t-shirt in one hand. He was getting a little cold from being without clothes for awhile. Especially since he was wearing nothing but a towel around his waist after he walked out of the shower, and then met Hermione, at the room's doorstep. Draco opened the door and walked inside, closed and locked it. He looked at himself in the mirror, his hair was gel-free, like most of his days and his face had grown a little bit more of a tannish hue instead of his normal pale face. His eyes were the same, the same penetrating dark silver-blue eyes that most girls loved, well except for Hermione Granger of course. He placed his hands on the marble sink top and bent his head down and thought for a while. (A/n: same goes with this guy here. bold and italicized)

'_What I want to know is why she's here in the first place. ' _

**What about that excuse that she had. What was it again... um... oh yeah. She wanted to come over to "check up" on you. Now we know that isn't the real answer right? **

'_I guess... I don't know. It's all crazy, especially at the bookstore place. When I grabbed her and... Yeah. I don't know why I did that. ' _

**Yeah, you do. You just think you don't know but you actually do. **

'_Whatever. ' _

Draco untied his towel and placed it on the counter top; he grabbed his boxers and put them on. He was about to put his jeans on when he heard a yell, "I. DO. NOT. HAVE. A. CRUSH. ON. A. FERRET!" He quickly put his jeans on and opened the door.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" Draco yelled and walked towards Hermione.

Hermione looked up and her face was red from embarrassment, it turned more red after she saw him still bare-chested. "Sorry, I was talking to myself," she answered meekly.

Draco sighed and ran his hand through his hair, that was his habit nowadays when he got frustrated or annoyed or when he was in an awkward moment.

"So, what did you mean by you didn't have a crush on a ferret," Draco said slyly while smirking. He really wanted to know what was going on with Hermione right now. She was acting a little strange today.

"Um... -" Hermione started, but was interrupted by Draco.

"Because, the only ferret that both you and I know of is what you called me in the fourth year. Now, you wouldn't be having a little crush on me, now, would you?" Draco was completely joking around with Hermione. But Hermione thought that Draco figured it out before her, that maybe she really DID like him.

"I've got to go," Hermione said while getting up from her seat. "Take this," she said while pushing the basket towards Draco's chest. He caught the basket, but looked bewildered while Hermione started to run out of the door.

"Hermione, wait!" Draco said, not even knowing that he actually said 'Hermione'.

Neither did Hermione, because she was already out the door, and in the hallway. Hermione leaned on the wall, then slowly slid down onto the floor and sighed.

"I'm so stupid!" Hermione repeated over and over again while hitting herself on the head with her hand. Draco sprinted towards the door and opened it and looked outside. Hermione immediately stopped and hoped that he wouldn't see her, which she really highly doubted. She was right, Draco saw her, and he looked down and saw her hitting herself again.

"You know you'll lose brain cells if you keep at it," Draco said while smiling.

Hermione looked up, she never saw him actually smile at her, maybe a smirk, but never a smile.

"Uh- I- yeah... sure," Hermione was in a loss of words.

"So what was _that_ all about, you just running out the door," Draco asked her. Hermione blushed furiously, and said in a whispered voice,"Um.. I got sick?" It sounded more like a question than a statement.

"Are you asking me if you were sick? I positively do not know if you were sick or not. So.. Why did you _really_ run out of the door," Draco said then bent down on the floor till he was eye level with Hermione. All Hermione could do was look at Draco's chest and stutter. (A/n: poor girl. I would've done that too. Ha-ha stutter in front of a guy without a shirt on. well.. Depends if he's hot or not; OR if he just doesn't have any abs)

"I uh.. w-wh-what I mean is uh..." That was the most of what Hermione could get out.

"Did you suddenly become mentally retarded in speech over the summer?'Cause I think that's really going to help me this year at school," Draco teased. "Now, what is bothering you right now?"

"Uh..."

"No answer still, eh?" Draco asked.

Hermione nodded slowly, but instead of looking at his bare-chest, Hermione looked to the side and coughed then answered, "You wouldn't mind if you go back in and put on a shirt, would you?"

Draco opened his eyes wide of shock.

"Are you shitting me!" Draco asked just in case.

"No, sorry. I wish I was though," Hermione replied.

"Um.. Sure, okay," Draco said in a strangled voice.

He got up and walked into his room and walked slowly back into the bathroom. Grabbed his black tee shirt and slipped it over his head. (A/n: in italicized words, it's going to be Hermione talking outside. and the bold words are Draco's.)

_I can't believe he didn't have his shirt on.'_

**I can't believe Her- I mean Granger was looking at my chest. Ha-ha. That's pretty funny. **

_Blast! I'm so stupid! _

**I still can't believe she was looking at my chest... hah. **

_God, now probably thinks that I like him now. What next, am I going to start falling for him, therefore making crazy love clashes between Draco Harry, and me? Wait a minute, did I just say Draco? AHH I mean MALFOY MALFOY MALFOY! '_

**What if Granger really likes me...? Would that even be a smart idea? I highly doubt it... I mean, her liking me, it's just IMPOSSIBLE! -.. I think. **

Draco walked out of the bathroom with his t-shirt on his upper part of the body and opened the door. Hermione was pacing around the hallway, she looked very impatient.

"What are you doing?" Draco asked while his eyes followed every move of Hermione.

"Oh? What? Oh, I was just... pacing..." Hermione stumbled on her words. "Anyways, I see you've put your shirt on."

Draco smirked and replied," I see you've stopped talking to yourself."

"Whatever. So, why am I still here again?" Hermione questioned.

"Because you were attracted to me and wanted to say that you have loved me since the first time you laid eyes on me," Draco joked.

Hermione laughed and added sarcastically," Oh yes, Draco. I've been waiting for this moment to ravish you!"

Sadly this was the wrong time to say that, since Harry, Ron, and Ginny opened in on them while hearing what Hermione had just said. Both Hermione and Draco turned around to see a very red faced Harry, he was about to apologize to Hermione that he wasn't her boyfriend, but now this ruined the moment; a very shocked looking Ron, and Ginny? Well, she just laughed.

"Hermione, you're kidding right?" Ron gulped, he looked sick.

"No, Ron, I'm infatuated with Malfoy," Hermione replied. When Ron showed no changes of improvement on his expression, she added while looking down at her shoes," I was just kidding." Then said," Gin, could you stop laughing, it's not really funny."

Ginny couldn't contain herself, although she felt really bad for Harry and all, but she just thought this whole situation was pretty funny. She tried stifling her laughter but ended up snorting. This triggered a snicker from Hermione, and then Hermione doubled over with laughter. All the guys looked as if Hermione and Ginny were out of it. Ron who was really concerned lately, and asked if Ginny was okay, all he got for an answer was his sister nodding up and down while laughing still. Draco thought of asking if Hermione was okay, but Harry beat her to it.

"Hey, Hermione. You okay?" Harry asked while shoving his hands in his pants awkwardly. Hermione stopped laughing for a second, the smile in her eyes vanishing quickly. Harry added quickly," OkayIknowyourmadatmebutdon'tbethatmadbecauseI'mjustworriedaboutyouandwellyouknowIcan'thelpbutgetangryatyou!" Harry took a deep breath then exhaled loudly.

At this point in time, Ginny stopped laughing and watched Hermione and Harry, as did Ron and Draco.

Hermione kept her hard face on still, but then answered, "What did you just say? You were talking so fast I couldn't get what you were saying."

Harry sighed, and just said," I'm sorry, can you forgive me?"

Hermione smiled faintly and nodded her head; she shuffled her feet towards Harry and gave him a tight hug. Harry wrapped his arms around Hermione's waist and rocked her back and forth. Draco looked disgusted, and inside he felt a pang of jealousy and resentment towards Harry. The resentment part he knew was always there, but jealousy? That was something new. Draco cleared his throat then went back into his room leaving the four behind him. Ginny had watched Draco looking jealous and a little hate, so she coughed. This made Harry and Hermione pull apart.

"Friends?" Hermione asked.

Harry froze, he had thought that Hermione would sooner or later want to be with him, but he decided that he'd stay friends for awhile.

"Friends," he replied back.

* * *

Okay, so how was it! Oh, guess what, I've updated TWO chapters.. yessss. lol. REVIEW! If you review a lot, I swear I will try and update more and more although the chapters will be shorter.


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, this is the FIFTH CHAPTER! YESSS! ENJOY!

**

* * *

**

Chapter Five:

Draco felt a pang of jealousy in his chest; he flashed daggers at Harry and Hermione while they were talking about how they were going to friends.

_They're probably just going to get together sometime this year. Grrreeatttt... Just fan-freaking-tastic... _

Draco was about to turn around and go back to his room and sulk for no reason, but someone grabbed his arm.

"Hey, why don't you come down with us?" Hermione asked shyly.

Draco looked at her as if she was crazy.

"You're kidding," Draco replied to her, but seemed like he was talking to himself.

Harry looked shocked at Hermione, but recovered quickly, his temper was getting the best of him. (A/n: like ALWAYS)

"Er- Hermione, you think that'll be a good idea?"

"Harry James Potter, I can't believe you just said that, and I thought you two might be the best of friends one day," Hermione joked. At first Draco and Harry didn't get it and glared at Hermione then at each other, but soon laughed it off awkwardly.

"Well, Malfoy, how's about it?" Hermione confidently asked this time.

"Sure, why not," Draco responded while running his hand through his platinum blonde hair.

Harry looked at Ron and gave him a look that said I-can't-believe-that-Hermione-invited-Draco-Malfoy-the-amazing-ferret-boy-to-go-and-hang-around-with-us.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

The Golden Trio, with Ginny and Draco were laughing rather loudly at the pub below the inn.

"-And well Snape came into the Slytherin's common room wearing a _pink_ robe with **_laces_**!" Draco exclaimed, then the two red heads, a brunette, and a jet black haired boy started to imagine what their Potions Master would look like in a pink robe with laces, once they imagined what he'd look like, they laughed their heads off.

Harry tried to control himself from laughing, then asked, "Why in the world did Snape wear something pink, nevertheless laces!"

"I don't know, but I do have a feeling it has something to do with our Astronomy teacher," Draco responded while acting like he was thinking very hardly.

"You're kidding," Ron questioned the blonde haired Slytherin.

"Nope, saw her with my own eyes prancing towards Snape. I swear, that gave me a big shock that did," Draco said while laughing.

Hermione gently kicked Ginny's leg under the table, Ginny responded by winking at Hermione. It was a little awkward to think that Draco Malfoy was getting along with the four of them. Hermione wanted to ask what was the change of mood, but didn't want to interrupt it either. She decided this was a question for another day.

_Wait, what am I thinking! Another day? Another day with Malfoy! I don't think so... _

_**Oh yes, I think so Miss Granger. **_

_Shut up, I don't want to deal with you anymore. Talking to you has caused enough trouble as it is. _

_**But it's funny.. Well in my opinion it's funny. **_

_Yeah, in YOUR opinion. _

_**Grrrrr...** _

Hermione sipped her butterbeer, the foam covered all over the top of her mouth. She didn't know this, but the others did.

"Hermione, I didn't know you liked moustaches," Ron exclaimed jokingly.

"I don't..." Hermione said as if testing the waters.

"You sure, Mina? I think you do," Ron kept going at it.

Ron and Hermione started bickering, but while they were, Ron couldn't help but laugh uncontrollably.

"Ronald Weasely, you better tell me what's going on _right_ now!" Hermione shouted at the red head.

Draco sighed and told the brunette, "Granger, you've got a foam moustache."

Hermione blushed a crimson red and wiped the foamy torture weapon off her lip with a napkin.

"Oh," was all Hermione could say.

"Bloody Hell Mina, it took you long enough to figure that out!" Ron laughed, soon the rest of the teenagers started to laugh.

"That was not funny..." Hermione muttered then started to say something under her breath. Harry and Draco who were sitting besides her on each side, heard a few parts including 'stupid butterbeer' and 'I'm going to kill Ron one day'. Harry and Draco started to laugh at what Hermione was muttering, but soon stopped when their eyes met.

The rest of the time, all five of the teenagers, enjoyed each other's company.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

It was the day that Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Ginny were all going back to Hogwarts. Mrs. Weasely being motherly as always started to ask questions about everything.

"You promise that you will owl me as soon as you get to Hogwarts, Ginny?"

"Yes, mum," Ginny replied and rolled her eyes. This was the umpteenth time that she had asked Ginny this.

"And Ronald!"

Ron jumped up a feet and turned slowly towards his mother.

"If you do any funny business at school, you should remember that your father and I will send another Howler anytime, any day!"

"Muuuuummmmm, I'm not like Fred or George! Remember, I'm still a prefect!" Ron added hopefully.

"Your right, well, Hermione dear, you promise to watch both of the boys for me, will you?"

"Of course Mrs. Weasely," Hermione replied while smiling.

The bell that it was time to board onto the Hogwarts Express rang, Harry, Ron, and Ginny started to run towards the train, while Hermione walked a few steps behind.

"MINA! COME ON! WE'RE NOT GOING TO GET GOOD SEATS!" Ron yelled through the bustling crowds of First years to Seventh.

"All right!" She yelled back, she turned around and shouted, "BYE MRS. WEASELY!"

Then the three teenagers up ahead shouted goodbye and boarded the train, Hermione following after them.

Mrs. Weasely wiped a tear from her eyes while Arthur was patting his wife's back gently.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

"Merlin, I thought we would never get on the train with mum going on like that," Ron sighed while sitting down roughly on the red velvet seats of the Hogwarts Express.

"Ron, she's just caring about you," Hermione defended the redhead's mother while sitting next to Harry.

"Mina, I think I'm going to have to agree with Ron this time," Ginny guiltily smiled then sat next to her brother.

Hermione scowled jokingly, and then turned to Ron, "You are a bad influence to your sister!"

"Hey, what about me!" Harry asked while laughing.

"Yes you too, Mr. Potter!" Hermione tried to mimic Professor McGonagall.

Harry grabbed Hermione which caused her to squeal, then gave her a big bear hug, "But you still love us, right?"

"Of course, how can I not?" Hermione replied while still being in a Harry's arms.

Draco walked towards their compartment, and opened it; he looked at Harry and Hermione and scowled.

"Granger, you need to come with me to the Head's compartment, and Weasely, you need to go the Prefect's," Draco said in a tight voice.

"All right, but as soon as Harry here will let me go!" Hermione replied smiling but faltered when she saw the glare that Draco was giving her. Harry unwounded his arms around his brunette friend and pushed Hermione gently up.

"See you later, Mina," Harry told the brunette who started to leave with Malfoy.

"Mate, you need to stop being all lovey dovey with her," Ron scolded his green eyed friend jokingly.

Harry held up his hands, "But I just can't help it."

Ginny, Ron, and Harry all laughed.

"Well, I got to go, see you both later," Ron sighed while getting up.

Harry and Ginny told Ron bye in unison, then the red headed prefect went out of the compartment.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Draco walked with long strides, it took Hermione two steps to follow him, but the small hallway didn't allow Hermione to walk side by side the quiet Slytherin.

"Malfoy, what's wrong?" Hermione asked quietly while she was practically running to try and catch up with Draco.

Draco didn't reply to Hermione, but kept walking faster, his black robes billowing behind him. Sort of like Professor Snape's except for the intimidating stare that the Professor would give to his students. When Draco finally halted, it was in front of a very large compartment, just slightly bigger than the other ones, and there sat Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape. But before Draco could open the door, Hermione grabbed his hand.

"Malfoy, did I do something wrong?"

"Yeah, you just touched me ... mudblood," Draco muttered coldly.

Hermione had a hurt look in her eyes, slowly tears formed, but she blinked them away. She then pushed Draco aside and opened the door of the compartment. Professor McGonagall and Snape looked up and greeted the students. Although Draco hesitated to come inside, Professor Snape got up and brought Draco to sit in front of him, alongside with Hermione.

"Hermione, Draco," Professor McGonagall started out, "You obviously know that you two are the two Heads of Hogwarts. Both Severus and I congratulate you both on your accomplishments. We just need to go over some rules that follow along with becoming a Head Boy / Girl. Firstly, you must set an example for the lower years and your years."

Then Severus Snape added, "You can take House points if needed, do not misuse this power."

When Snape had said that, Hermione and Professor McGonagall both looked at Draco Malfoy, who just smirked. Hermione rolled her eyes, and then paid attention to the two Professors.

"Yes, and you two will be joining the rest of the other Professors on Night Watches. I know you two are both familiar due to the Prefect duties from last year. Any rule breaking will cause your Head badge to be taken away. So I do warn you both _not_ to misuse the powers of being a Head once more," Professor McGonagall stressed the last part of her statement.

Professor Snape continued after the other Professor, "And, Miss Granger, I know that you, Mister Potter and Weasely just love roaming around at night. I advise you _not_ too, or your badge will be taken away."

"Severus, do you have any evidence that Miss Granger and Mister Potter and Weasely have been roaming around the castle during the night?" Professor McGonagall defended her top student.

"Why yes, during their first year -" Professor Snape started out but was interrupted by the Transfiguration teacher.

"First year Severus! For Merlin's sake, they are in their seventh years, they know better now then they did before. But do you really have any more 'evidence' of the three roaming about in the castle?"

"No," Snape muttered, and then ceased the bicker between them.

"Well, then, let me continue. Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall looked at the brunette.

"Yes?"

"You will be sharing common rooms with Mister Malfoy over here, but before you protest, this is all Headmaster Dumbledore's idea of House unity."

Instead of Hermione actually protesting, Draco started to ask questions.

"How about privacy, at least when we were in our separate House common rooms we would get our privacy, but if we're together, I highly doubt there will be much left," Draco complained while shooting a disgusted look towards Hermione's way.

"Mister Malfoy, there will only be two of you in the whole room, there will be enough privacy, I assure you," Professor McGonagall tried to reason with the boy.

Hermione grew tired of the way Draco was acting towards her and others, so she just yelled out, "Fine Malfoy, if you get out of **_my_** way I'll get out of _yours_!"

"Fine."

The Potions Master and the Transfiguration teacher met each others eyes and sighed, this was going to be a very very long year.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

After the two Professors left, it was only Draco and Hermione in the compartment. Hermione was reading a book from her trunk, which was magicked into the compartment along with Draco's. Draco on the other hand was staring intently at the girl while she was reading; it wasn't really a nice pleasant stare, but a very cruel cold stare.

"Malfoy, take a picture, it'll last longer," Hermione told the Slytherin while not glancing up from her book.

"Why would I want to take a picture of a filthy little mudblood!"

Hermione just rolled her eyes and went back to her reading, but this didn't stop Malfoy from provoking the Gryffindor.

"I'm surprised that you're not reading Hogwarts: a History. Haven't you read that book over fifty times just counting this year?"

"Malfoy, if you're trying to provoke me, you're not doing any good."

Draco scowled at Hermione's head, and then thought back to Harry and Hermione back in the other compartment. Where Harry's arms were wrapped around Hermione while she was giggling. Draco clenched his fists, he didn't know why though, why was he was mad at the sight of Harry and Hermione together?

_**Because your starting to like her that's why. **_

_I don't need your opinion on this right now. I'm fine, so leave me alone. _

_**Sorry, but I really can't leave you alone. Especially with all the whining about Granger this and Granger that. Why is Granger always around Potter? **_

_I do not say those things in my head. _

**_Oh yes you do. You're always wondering why you can't be Potter and be with Granger. You know this; I know this, so stop denying it. _**

_Just leave me alone. _

**_Just leave me alone! You know that you care about everything, what Granger does and who she's with. You were furious back in Fourth year when she came in with Krum by her side. You know you were jealous, and now that she's gone after Potter, or more likely each other, you're being jealous again. _**

Draco couldn't take it anymore so he yelled out, "Are you in love with Potter!"

"What!" Hermione looked up from her book and looked at Draco as if he were crazy.

"I said, are you in love with Potter."

"I know what you said, but how can you say that. He's like a brother to me, that's just gross thinking of Harry as a boyfriend," Hermione replied.

"Then why was he holding you back there," Draco asked while standing up from his seat.

Hermione rose from her seat and stomped towards Draco, "Is this what it's all about! You giving me a cold shoulder, all because Harry was hugging me? FYI _Malfoy_ I can hug friends if I want, and we were just playing around. Besides, why do you give a damn about what I do?"

Draco couldn't find an answer so he grabbed Hermione roughly by the shoulders and kissed her on the lips. Hermione almost went along with Draco, but realized it was Draco Malfoy that she was kissing, no, he was kissing her. Hermione pulled roughly away from the Slytherin and ran out the door, she just ran a few feet, and then leaned against a wall, slowly sliding down. She reached up and felt her lips; they were slightly bruised from Draco's kiss. Hermione soon heard a loud bang in the compartment where Draco was. She didn't want to go back in there; she couldn't face him after what he did to her. It was practically like sexual harassment, but why did she like it when he kissed her.

_This isn't right. _

_**Mina, this is how you obviously feel about Malfoy. You LIKE him. **_

_No I don't, I do not like the ferret... I do not like the ferret. _

_**But then why did you like that kiss Draco gave you a minute ago. **_

_Don't call him by his first name! _

While Hermione was thinking in her thoughts, Draco was cursing silently to himself.

Draco paced back and forth, thinking about what he had just done. He had just kissed Hermione Granger, the Mudblood Granger, the know-it-all Granger, the one he was falling for. The Slytherin couldn't admit it himself that he was starting to fall in love with Hermione Granger; he just kicked the wall of the train in furiousity. He was sure that the Gryffindor was close by, but he couldn't bring himself out to face her. How could she, when she was just kissed by her enemy, this was going to be a very awkward.

Hermione decided that there was no use but to just go back in there and face Draco herself. She can't be hiding from this topic any longer; it'll just turn worse later on. She slowly got up and walked towards the compartment. Breathing in and out slowly, she opened the door to find Draco cursing.

"Damn her for being... her!" Draco whispered harshly.

Hermione coughed, Draco slowly turned to look at her.

"What are you doing here, I thought you would've been crying to Potter that I just ... kissed you," Draco harshly stated to the girl.

"If I did, it wouldn't really help a lot," Hermione calmly replied.

"Stop being so bloody calm about this, I know you want to lash out at me. Just go ahead, I don't care, slap me as hard as you can, hex me into oblivion. Do whatever you want!"

Hermione just walked slowly up to Draco, his immediate reaction was to look away, and he knew that she was going to slap him. At least not hex him, that would hurt, especially since it came from Granger, she's the smartest person in the whole school. But what came next surprised both of them, Hermione reached up and turned the Slytherin's face towards hers and kissed him lightly on the lips. Draco froze, and thought, "What the hell is she doing!"

Hermione soon slowly pulled away, but Draco brought Hermione closer to him and crashed his lips onto hers. Soon enough, he pushed her against the wall while Hermione's hands were clenched into his hair. Hermione felt his tongue pressing underneath her bottom lip, asking for entrance, she opened her mouth in response. Neither of them could breathe, what was happening, why are they even kissing! Yet they couldn't stop, it was as if they were attracted together like magnets, but there was a sudden bang of the door, it opened rather loudly and there stood Harry, watching his love kissing his enemy.

* * *

Cliff hanger anyone? READ AND REVIEW! Like I said before, if people review more, I promise I will update more and more but they will be a little shorter than usual. Not like, REALLY short, but you get the picture right? Okay, well please review! 


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own any Harry Potter's original characters, otherwise the other guys/girls in here are all mine courtesy of searching last names and first names. **

**

* * *

Chapter Six**

The two teenagers didn't notice that a green eyed wizard that was practically red from inside out was standing outside of the compartment, ready to attack anyone. But while Harry was exploding from the inside, he couldn't say anything, he tried speaking out, but his voice failed him. So he miserably had to watch the two having an intimate moment together. Hermione couldn't believe that she was actually snogging Draco Malfoy, the stupid Slytherin who kept on bothering her and her friends for the past years, the same guy who tortured her by calling her mudblood and making her feel lower than dirt. She couldn't believe this. But while she was thinking about this reasoning, she didn't do anything about it. Draco gently pulled Hermione closer into him, well more like, him moving closer to her. He snaked one of his arms onto Hermione's waist while one arm was behind the Gryffindor's head. He too was thinking thoughts like Hermione, why was he even kissing her, was this all because of rage? He highly doubted that, and it seems as if Hermione's been wanting this too if she didn't slap or hex him by now. (A/n: him and his big egotistical thoughts :P )

Harry couldn't take this, his enemy was kissing the girl whom he loved, and he needed to stop this. So he walked rather aggressively towards the two teenagers, and pulled back Draco's shoulder. Draco and Hermione, were obviously shocked that they were pulled apart, nevertheless _kissing_.

"What the hell do you think your doing, Malfoy!" Harry asked viciously to the Slytherin while pointing his wand just a few inches away from the blonde's face.

"I'm not so sure either," Draco replied, still in a state of shock, but quickly pulled together and responded quite viciously back.

"Why, what are you going to do about it? This isn't the first time you've seen us together though, right? Is somebody a little jealous?"

"Why I ought to-"

Hermione grabbed Harry away from Draco and pulled him outside of the room. Harry pushed Hermione's off and started to walk off in a very angry manner, but Hermione reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Wait- let me explain."

"You don't need to explain _anything_! I saw what you and **_Malfoy_** were doing, having a little snogging session," Harry spat out the word 'Malfoy' as if it was contaminated.

"Harry, he came onto me!"

"And you didn't do anything to pull away, though."

Hermione couldn't reply to that one, Harry was right. She didn't do anything to pull away from Draco; she probably even liked snogging with him. But Hermione still didn't give on her grasp on Harry.

"I might not have pulled away, but Harry, you have to understand, Draco just came onto me, and I didn't no what to do. I was completely shocked that he would even snog me."

Harry pushed off Hermione's hand off his arm, and started to walk off, but then stopped abruptly and turned around.

"And you know what! I'm tired of waiting here, hoping that one bloody day, you'll actually recognize me as a guy and maybe even like me for Merlin's sake. But now I see what type of guys you like, guys like Ferret Boy over there. I can't take this anymore... I'll see you back at Hogwarts," Harry shouted, then left.

All Hermione could do was fall down on the floor and start crying hysterically. She really thought that Ginny was just kidding about Harry liking her, and back at the inn Harry was just overreacting because he couldn't possibly imagine that Draco was helping both of the Gryffindor girls out without hexing them, like he had thought. But now everything was coming true, what was she going to do? Now she can't even face Malfoy anymore **_again_**, or she might find herself snogging him again. She doesn't even like him, but she wants to be with Malfoy, she couldn't believe this was actually possible for happening. Hermione didn't hear footsteps in the background; she just kept on crying, waiting for something to happen.

"- Granger?"

She didn't answer.

"Come on Granger, talk to me, I'm- ... sorry, okay? I didn't mean for that to happen, it just did," Draco explained, hoping that this might make the young woman feel a little better, but when the Gryffindor didn't budge, he knelt down in front of her. He lifted Hermione's chin up and looked into her tear-streaked eyes; Hermione quickly turned her head around to look somewhere else. Out of all the people in the world, she didn't want to look at this blonde headed Slytherin right now. Draco didn't say anything, but guided her head to face towards him again. He cupped Hermione's face, with his rather large calloused hands, due from Quidditch, and wiped the tears away from her face.

"Don't. touch. me." Hermione said in a low menacing tone.

"I said I was sorry," Draco tried to reason.

"Will it fix my friendship with Harry? I don't think so."

Hermione looked away from Draco once more, and started to get up, but then Draco grabbed Hermione's hand. She immediately tried to grab her hand away from Draco's grasp but it didn't work.

"I told you don't touch me!"

Draco didn't reply but grabbed Hermione closer to him, wrapping his arms around her. Hermione started to beat Draco on the chest, each time getting weaker, her sobs grew louder and louder, until she stopped beating against his chest and slumped into him. Her shoulders shook heavily while crying into Draco's chest, he didn't mind though. Draco cautiously reached from behind and stroked Hermione's soft brown curls that tamed over the years. Hermione didn't lash out at him, so he continued to stroke her hair, hoping this would sooth the teenage girl.

"Shh... It's all right."

"No -hiccup- it's not all right -hiccup-," she replied back into his chest.

Draco didn't try and say anything; he thought it would be better if it was quiet for awhile. A few minutes passed by and she still didn't move from Draco's grasp, Hermione was thinking that it was rather comfortable in the Slytherin's strong arms. (A/n: Just so you know, both of them are still on the ground.) But soon enough he started to get up, loosening his arms around the girl, he moved back a little. He found Hermione, a little puffy eyed from crying and her cheeks were red from the confinement of Draco's chest. He first got up and reached out his hand towards Hermione, she grabbed it hesitantly but he pulled her up. He gently carried her back into the compartment that they were staying in the train ride towards Hogwarts.

"I still mean what I said earlier..."

Hermione had a questioning look in her eyes.

"When I said sorry, I didn't really mean for it to happen, it just did."

(A/n: SORRY AGAIN! If you're wondering if they are in school uniforms or not, they're in their school uniforms.)

"Oh, okay, well I guess thanks?"

Draco smiled, and looked back down at his robes; there was a slight wet place on his chest. Draco smirked and pointed his wand towards the spot and said a spell to clean the spot up. Hermione gently sat down on the velvety red sofa like seats, but soon just ended up lying down. She watched Draco cleaning up his robes, then looking around everywhere to make sure everything was quite in place. It sort of looked like a dog trying to catch a glimpse of his tail, but of course, there was nothing on the back of his robes. Him being a little perfectionist checked anyways for any spots or dirt of any kind, by finishing the whole thing, he ran his fingers through his hair. For the past years, Draco stopped using hair products in his hair, it looked better, and it made the girls swoon over him even more. Hermione started to giggle slightly, Draco turned his head slowly towards Hermione. He raised one of his eyebrows, but thought better of wanting an explanation, so he just went and sat on the seat in front of Hermione.

"Why are you being so kind to me lately?"

Draco looked astonishly at Hermione, "You think I'm being **_kind_**?"

"Well, not when the professors were here, but just a few minutes ago, and back at the inn. You were- .. Nice," Hermione hesitantly replied back.

Draco quickly sat up and took two big strides and stood in front of Hermione. He roughly grabbed Hermione on the wrist and pushed her up against the wall, they were in the same position that they were when they were kissing earlier.

"You still think I'm kind?" Draco growled under his breath.

"Ahh, I'm so scared," Hermione replied sarcastically

Hermione moved around Draco and sat back down on the seat. Draco turned around and looked at Hermione, then sat back down next to her. Draco looked outside the window and noticed that the castle was coming near. It had a great presence surrounding the moors around it, but in the inside, it was different. Hogwarts was practically like his second home, more like his real home, nothing was waiting for him back in the Malfoy Manor. Hermione smiled at Draco who was still looking out the window, that's when rain drops slowly dropped, soon enough it was raining pretty hard.

"Poor first years," Hermione muttered.

When the train lurched to a stop, Hermione immediately ran out the door. Draco smirked at Hermione running, but didn't chase after her. He walked rather slowly and waited for Blaise and Pansy to catch up with him.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Hermione ran towards Harry and Ginny, she said hi to Ginny and Harry. Ginny replied, but Harry didn't respond. Ginny had a questioning look in her eyes; she thought it had to do something with Harry and Hermione fighting again.

_Harry slammed the door of the compartment really loudly, Ginny looked up in shock at the green eyed wizard. _

_"Bloody ferret" Harry muttered under his breath. _

_"Harry what's wrong?" Ginny asked, rather concerned that Malfoy had done something to Hermione and Harry. _

_"Nothing," Harry answered gruffly and turned away from her. _

_When Ron came in though, he started to talk in a whispered tone towards Ron, but didn't include Ginny in this. Obviously he didn't want her to listen, so Ginny shrugged it off and continued reading her book. _

She sighed, but when her friend came into sight, she jumped up and down and ran towards her.

"HEY LUNA!"

"Hello Ginny. I haven't seen you in a while," Luna replied in a mystical voice that she had always had.

"I know, so sorry, but I was busy over the summer," Ginny replied while thinking of what happened back at the inn.

"Ahh,.. Well if you don't mind, do you want to come and join me in my carriage to Hogwarts?"

"Um... sure, I need to tell Ron though, he'll go ballistic if I don't tell him and go," Ginny told her friend. Luna started to blush when Ginny's brother was put into topic; Ginny noticed and asked, "You don't like him do you?"

"Maybe..."

Ginny smiled faintly, and then looked back to see Harry and Hermione facing away from each and Ron trying to consult either one of them. She told Luna to hold on, and ran towards the trio.

"Ron, I'm going to be with Luna okay?" Ginny told her brother, but then gave him a questioning look. Ron shrugged in response.

"Whoa, wait, Gin, I thought you weren't really friends with Luna. I just figured that you were with her because you pitied her. I guess not, right?" Ron said jokingly.

Ginny scowled and replied, "You are such a prat."

The fiery red head ran off in the rain towards her blonde headed friend. While he watched his sister leave, he noticed that Hermione and Harry still weren't talking to each other and they were really wet.

"Er- why don't we go get a carriage?" Ron asked awkwardly.

Hermione just started to walk off towards an empty carriage, Ron and Harry followed just a few steps back. Once they reached the carriage, drawn by the invisible thestrals, they were stopped by Malfoy.

"What do you want ferret?" Ron asked in a menacing tone.

"Granger, you need to come with me, we need to ride in a separate carriage. Snape just told me," Draco lied.

Hermione looked back at Ron and Harry; she sighed and went along with Draco. She followed him to another line of carriages and climbed in, and then she asked, "Why'd you do that?"

"Well, you looked pretty miserable with Potter, and Weasely looked like he didn't no what to do. So me, being a chivalrous knight, came to rescue you," Draco joked.

Hermione giggled a bit, and then went to drying her clothes. Draco looked around and saw Blaise mouthing something, he told the Gryffindor girl that he'd be back and walked out.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" Blaise yelled at the blonde.

Draco looked taken aback, "What do you mean?"

"Damnit, are you fucking blind! You're sitting with MUDBLOOD GRANGER! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" Blaise repeated.

"Look, I'll explain later, and don't talk to her, she's a little... confused," Draco warned.

"I can see why," Blaise muttered without the other Slytherin knowing.

* * *

**xoKaSsIeox **: Sorry, that was the whole POINT of the cliff hanger and wanting more reviews. :) sorry, but here's another chapter for you! r&r!

**Isabel Bay** : Thanks, I think this fic is better then the other one that I'm writing.. more like stop writing.

**QueenJen **: I kept on writing, and I have the seventh chapter in my documents, but I'm just going to have to wait for awhile and post that one. JUST KIDDING!

**Silversmile **: Thanks,laughs I hate it when authors give out cliffhangers, so Iquickly made this chapter! Oh.. Harry, Harry. He will do the most outrageous things.

**rizahawkeye21 **: Thanks for saying that my fic is starting to get interesting :) I knowit was going pretty slow, but I had to start it off, you wouldn't want me to start going here they are in flourish and blotts, then at school.laughing

**Alenor **: Thanks for comment!

**SharonAurora **:Thanks, sharon. hows it going with you back in Alexandria?

Okay, thanks everyone for reviewing. Yeah, not that much, but still, I'm happy that I got six reviews in one day and the other one just a day after. I promise I'll start writing up chapters more often. So... HAPPY EARLY THANKSGIVING:) Oh, so if you review a lot, I definately will put up the 7th chapter, I already have it all done. soo.. thanks

xXx33 susie


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer : IF I did even own Harry Potter.. I wouldn't have let Hermione and Ron be all.. ew.. I don't want to even talk about it. **

OH! ENJOY!

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Seven**

When the carriages slowly descended, there was a soft thump. The three looked outside to find, more rain and Peeves throwing syrup filled balloons at people. The high cackling of Peeve's laughter was filled around the dark rain filled skies. They all looked outside, hesitant to come outside and be drenched in syrup and to make it worse with water. Although, Draco and Hermione had a little problem, the Ceremony was about to begin and they were to be there on time. Hermione sighed and started to get out of the carriage, when Draco allowed himself to come out first. She smirked, waiting for the yelp that Draco would emit when he was hit by a syrup balloon. She waited, but no sound; she got out and was soon coated in syrup. Hermione turned to look at her side to find Draco in the same state, sticky, cold, and pissed.

"Damnit Peeves, I'm going to get you one day," Draco muttered.

Hermione on the other hand was _extremely_ peeved (A/n: hahaha), so she quickly whipped out her wand and muttered a spell, then as soon as she took out her wand, Peeves came flying towards her.

"PEEVES YOU BLOODY THROW ONE MORE BALLOON AT ME OR ANYONE, I SWEAR I WILL BLOODY CALL UP BLOODY BARON AND SEE TO IT THAT YOU ARE PUSNISHED! AND IF THAT DOESN'T EVEN WORK, I'LL TAKE IT PERSONALLY AND CURSE YOUR BLOODY GHOST ARSE OFF THIS SCHOOL!" Hermione yelled at the poltergeist.

Peeves gulped, he was starting to get afraid of this witch called Hermione Granger. So he flew away, but didn't leave without singing:

_You messed up the fun, _

_Oh, but you hit a homerun. _

_But don't you worry, _

_I'll be back in a flurry._

_With pudding filled balloons,_

_And singing my tune. _

_But don't you fret, _

_This isn't a threat. _

_I'll just hit the birds,_

_Who travel in herds. _

Then Peeves cackled once more and left. Professor McGonagall rushed towards Hermione and Draco.

"Miss Granger I-" She was cut off by Hermione apologizing profusely.

"I'm so sorry, Professor! I was just so angry at the stupid ghost and it just got to the best of me. Please don't take away my head badge!" Hermione apologized.

"Miss Granger, as I was saying, thank you for taking care of the little Peeve problem. It doesn't matter, I'm just happy that at least there is someone else in the whole entire school besides Bloody Baron that could control that little menace," Professor McGonagall told the student with a smile.

"Thank you," Hermione responded in a shocked voice, but then looked down at her robes. She sighed and cleaned it up with her wand including a water repellent charm also, Draco slowly caught up with the other Head. (A/n: he used the same spell that Hermione did to clean himself up.) Blaise had already ran off in the amidst of things, he was particularly frightened of what Hermione had just done and didn't want to experience it for himself.

"Well, Miss Granger, Mister Malfoy, you are needed in the Ceremony," Professor McGonagall told the two students while walking into Hogwarts. The two followed the professor, and stopped when Professor McGonagall turned around and warned, "I suggest that you, Miss Granger and Mister Malfoy, keep quiet on what had happened outside with Peeves. We don't want this to go around."

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

When the doors opened up, cheers resounded across the whole Great Hall. Cheers from the Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff table, congratulating the two Heads for being chosen. The outcome was quite shocking, it was Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger, the polar opposites, and this was definitely going to be a year to remember. Both students went back to their House tables, and sat with their friends. Draco with Blaise, Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle and the other Slytherins. While Hermione was surrounded by Ginny, Ron, Lavender, Parvarti, Seamus, Neville, and a very sulky Harry.

"Welcome, Welcome, students, once again those who've been in this school for awhile, welcome back. For those who are new, welcome to Hogwarts. I see everyone is a little wet from the downpour that we've had outside, and a little sticky I see. No matter, the Ceremony will begin in a matter of minutes, but before, I will tell all of you something. We have a new student from America; he has just transferred, and will be in Seventh Year. So please give a warm welcome to Blake Richmond," Dumbledore announced while clapping his hands.

The boy called Blake Thomason stood up and bowed down. His hair was brown with a few golden highlights, his eyes had a hint of ambers, and he was well built, and had an incredible smile. All the girls in the whole Hall was swooning over his smile, even Hermione. The girls all squealed or sighed when he gave a small smile towards the crowds, this just made him smile wider. All the guys in the hall was sulking, more competition for winning the girl's hearts now, first it was Harry and Draco for being the best looking guys, but now there were three. Just what they needed now, more girls obsessing over guys. (A/n: sorry, but this is soo funny, thinking about guys sulking around that girls are falling for this kid, not that he's bad or anything, but still. JOIN ME IN THIS LAUGH! HAHA)

After the rounds of applause ended, Professor Dumbledore continued, "Now, let the Sorting Ceremony begin."

There were only fifteen first years this year, not that much, but still there at least were some students. The names were called out one by one.

"Alverton, James!" Professor McGonagall called out from her parchment.

"Ravenclaw!" The Sorting Hat yelled out.

"Aston, Theresea!"

"Hufflepuff!"

"Berkeley, Abbey!"

"Gryffindor!"

"Cleaver, Angelo!"

"Gryffindor!"

"Heaton, Jack"

"Slytherin!"

(A/n: Remember the name Duke Heaton, of course, that's Jack's older brother. He's in the same grade as Hermione and Draco.)

So on the names were called out, and in total there were four Gryffindors, five Ravenclaws, three Huffelpuffs, and two Slytherins. Then finally Blake's name was called out, everybody became quiet.

"Richmond, Blake," Professor McGonagall called out lastly.

The hat sat on top Blake's brown haired locks; it seemed as if it was thinking where to put him. The wait was nearly as long as Harry's, but soon the Hat announced, "GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor girls screamed and clapped loudly, while the other girls in different houses clapped wearily, looking jealous. Professor McGonagall pointed Hermione Granger out, and told the boy to sit next to her, that she could help him around the school and such. He walked rather confidently towards the girl; in her mind all she was thinking was ' Oh Merlin, he's gorgeous.'

Draco's silver eyes turned chillingly cold while he followed this so called Blake towards Hermione. Then glancing at Hermione he noticed that she was swooning over the guy, something inside him was starting to bubble in furiousity.

While Harry's green piercing eyes followed the guy also, his immediate reaction was that he should talk to him sometime, but when he looked at Hermione, he could tell that Hermione liked this guy, or his appearance.

"That's just bloody great," Harry thought to himself. "First Malfoy, now Blake. NO, I promised myself; I give up, I GIVE UP!"

Blake sat down next to Hermione, and smiled warmly, "Hey there."

There was a slight British accent in his voice, Hermione looked at him questioningly and Blake immediately answered, "I lived in Britain for nine years, the accent doesn't really wear off." Then gave another heart melting smile. Hermione immediately thought of a Muggle actor, Orlando Bloom, and thought that Blake looked a little bit like him.

When Blake sat down, the Headmaster continued his speech, "Now, before we have our welcome back feast, let me briefly explain to you that the Forbidden Forest is forbidden without a teacher present. Wandering around in the corridors past curfew leads to detention. The class rules will be known when you arrive in class, remember, don't be late! Now, let the feast begin!"

Immediately food sprang up from the golden shimmering plates that covered the whole table. Like always, all the guys, mostly Ron started to grab everything, while the girls watched the guys in awe and shock in how they could eat like that. Blake grabbed a few things, and then turned towards Hermione.

"This is incredible," Blake exclaimed.

Hermione smiled and told him almost everything that Hogwarts: A History told her. After she was done, Blake looked at her astonished, and then joked, "You are something."

Hermione laughed hesitantly, and then started to talk with her other friends, talking to Blake at times.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

At the end of dinner, the prefects gathered everyone to lead into their houses. Before Ron and Lavender left, the Prefects of Gryffindor, Hermione walked towards Harry and Ron.

"Harry, I'm -" Hermione started but was interrupted by Harry, when he hugged her tightly and told her that he was sorry. Hermione returned the hug.

"I'll see you later, if I can," Hermione said while smiling, then leaned in to kiss Harry on the cheek, and then did the same with Ron. Hermione walked towards Draco, when Blake stopped her.

"Er- Hermione?" Blake stepped forward towards Hermione.

"Yeah?" Hermione asked, she was a little cautious of what the brunette was doing.

"Good night," Blake responded, and then kissed her lightly on the cheek.

Hermione blushed profusely then muttered, "Thanks, good night."

Then she quickly walked away from the smiling brunette boy. When she was next to Draco, she sighed deeply, and then looked up.

"Where's Professor McGonagall? She's supposed to show us where our rooms are."

"Dunno."

"I'm right here Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall reassured, and then led the way towards the common rooms where Draco and Hermione would have to share.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

While the Transfiguration teacher was leading the way for the two teenagers, Draco pulled Hermione back and started to whisper to her in a harsh tone.

"What was that all about back in the Great Hall!"

"What are you talking about?"

"That little kiss you shared with _Blake_," Draco stressed on the brunette's name.

"He was just being friendly."

"No, I think he wants to be more than friends."

"And this bothers you... why?"

"- Because, it just does."

"Wow, great answer."

"Shut up."

"No, Malfoy, seriously, what's bothering you with me and Blake. We're not even **together**," Hermione tried to explain to the blonde.

Draco pondered for a moment, and then nearly shouted, "EXACTLY! You're not even **_together_** and he kissed you."

"ON THE BLOODY CHEEK!" Hermione whispered harshly towards Draco, but fortunately, the Professor heard.

"Ms. Granger, Mr. Malfoy? Is there a problem?" the professor asked in a serious tone.

Hermione blushed red, and murmured, "No."

Draco didn't even answer, but just stood there, impatiently tapping his foot. Hermione was just right over the edge, and just wanted to strangle Malfoy, but then again thought against it, just because McGonagall was there.

**'Breath in, and out. In and out..' **Hermione thought while breathing in and out calmly.

She blew a stray hair that covered her face, it wavered in the air but fell back in her face. She blew her hair one more time, hoping it will just stay up there, but her hair being difficult, gently landed on her face. Frustrated, she swiped her piece of hair with her hand, and then made sure it was secured. Draco rolled his eyes at this, he found it funny, but he couldn't just laugh in front of her.

"Okay," Professor McGonagall startled the two students, "Here we are. This will be your rooms that you two will have to share."

The portrait had a vibrant sun with blue skies with clouds on one side of the canvas while the other had a moon with star filled skies.

"You two will decide on what your password will be, so I suggest you choose one now. The Moon and the Sun will be like the portraits that you were accustomed to," Professor McGonagall explained.

"Helios."

"Selene"

Hermione and Draco had chosen their own password and said it at the same time without consulting each other.

"Malfoy, it's going to be Selene," Hermione said in a stern voice.

"I don't think so, it's going to be Helios," Draco stubbornly replied.

Draco and Hermione started to bicker about what name they were going to use for their password, Professor McGonagall sighed and told them in a stern voice, "Why don't you trade off each month, one month it could be Helios while one month it could be Selene. I suggest you go alphabetically, so Draco, your choice will be first, then Hermione. Does that sound fair?"

Both students shook their heads, when Hermione looked up to glare at Draco, he sneered back at her. She rolled her eyes, and told the Sun and Moon, 'Helios'. The painting opened up, before both of them climbed in, Professor McGonagall told them that they should wake up a little earlier than usual. They were supposed to help pass out the Time Tables for the students. Then bid both of the students goodnight, and left. Hermione walked into the room, followed by Draco, they both looked around the room. The Common Room was beautifully adorned, there was a huge fireplace that had rubies and emeralds incrusted into the silver and gold spiraled outline of the hearth. There were two large sofas, one crimson red and the other emerald green. The crimson sofa had lions carved into the chestnut colored legs and the emerald sofa had snakes carved into the same type of wood as the crimson one. It was magnificent, so elegant, it was beautiful. The pillows that lined up on the couch were all different sizes in different shades of the color that it was on. Draco took this opportunity to throw a rather large green pillow at Hermione, this landed on her head rather roughly. Hermione winced once the pillow hit her; she turned around slowly, and saw that Draco was trying to act a little innocent. He was looking down at the green couch, acting as if he was really interested in it.

"YOU PRAT!" Hermione yelled at him, and threw a red pillow back at him; he dodged it, but didn't see the tiny dark red pillow coming at his face.

"Oomph," Draco muttered when the pillow hit him square on the face.

"You deserved that Malfoy!" Hermione exclaimed then ran up to her bedroom, first she was confused, and there was a long hallway that stretched horizontally. And there were four rooms on each side, counting up to eight (A/n: duh) As quickly as she could she opened all of the doors with a flick of her wand, she ran back and forth to each of the doors, until she found her bedroom, adorned in red and gold. She slammed the door shut, and breathed in deeply, "Thank Merlin that Draco wasn't fast enough to catch me."

Hermione obviously didn't explore the whole Common Room, matter in fact, her own room. On the other hand, Draco took time to inspect his room carefully, and found two doors that was on the side of his room. One, was his closet, he found out, and the other was a bathroom, "This is going to be interesting," Draco thought. He walked inside, and took notice of the very large bathtub and showering place, with two sinks and everything. And lo behold, there was another door that was parallel to his, he cautiously opened the door, to find Hermione lying face down on a bed, well, technically, her bed.

Draco tiptoed across the room with the red pillow that Hermione had hit him with behind his back. Hermione took no notice of Draco, for she was still lying face down on her bed. Draco lunged and was about to hit the brunette girl when a spell hit him from the corner of the room.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Draco froze immediately, Hermione, who was hiding behind her bed, walked up to Draco and laughed.

"You think I would be so vulnerable to just lay face down like that? You have **_got_** to be kidding me, and I thought you knew me better," Hermione told to the frozen blonde.

Hermione paused for a moment as if to hear what Draco would might have wanted to say, but decided better of it and casted to counter-curse of the spell. Draco breathed in deeply and started yelling, "YOU HAVE NO BLOODY RIGHT TO JUST HEX ME RIGHT THERE!"

Hermione quirked one of her eyebrows and replied back in a vicious tone, "And I'm guessing that hitting a person who wasn't even paying attention with a pillow is right?"

"Well-... Well, it wasn't you right there!" Draco stuttered out.

"Good point, but still," Hermione responded while giving a good impression of a Malfoy smirk. Draco obviously noticed that and yelled out, "HEY! THAT'S MINE!"

Hermione rolled her eyes, and then walked out the door leaving a very confused Draco behind.

* * *

Sorry, yeah ... well I was going to update earlier, but you see, I decided that the chapter was too short, but when I started it wouldn't stop. So this isn't really a great chapter. sorry peoples..

OKAY! SO THANKS TOOOOO :

**rizahawkeye21 : **thanks for keeping up with this fic!  
**Silversmile :** lol, thanks. :) I'll try to update faster.  
**rowlinghermione **: yeah, I was laughing while I wrote that, well.. after I was reading it through for any corrections. and how'd you like this one? I thought it was quite horrible. **Gucci-Envy** : I LOVE YOUR USERNAME! haha.. Thanks.. well, it's good to know that someone out here likes the POV's. I thought they were a little.. weird.. I guess you could say.  
**kakashisninijadogs **: woahh long username.. hope I got it right, well thanks for saying my story is good. look I updated!  
**teacat** : I know, tom felton is REALLY REALLY hot.  
**SharpielovesHarry** : heh.. I wonder if this is a good chapter or not. :(

READ AND REVIEW! Oh, and if you don't mind, I'd like to have more and more reviews.. meaning, I hope we can reach to 36 the next time I update. Just a wish :)

xXx33 Susie


	8. This isn't a chapter!

A/n: Sorry this isn't a chapter but when the reveiwer, Leaves, told me of my grammatical mistakes, I'm going to go back and see if I can fix any of them. It might take awhile to get everything all cleared up, I'm really really lazy about those kinds of things, but truly, I am extremely sorry for everything. OH, and um.. yeah, sorry bout the whole mishap concerning Blake. That was… idiotic. Ugh.. So just incase you missed it, his real name is BLAKE RICHMOND. So sorry about everything.

I'd say thanks for all the reviews, but I just need to give this one to Leaves.

**Leaves: Okay, so yeah, I have a LOT of grammatical mistakes and the whole present tenses drive me nuts, but, I don't really pay attention in what I'm writing, and I'm not a very experienced writer. God, you shouldn't even look at my other one then, I'd be so ashamed... :( But usually I just wait and see if the computer will fix any errors,(you know doing the whole abc check thing), but now I realize the computer is very very dumb. It obviously doesn't check over those kinds of errors, so I promise that I will try and go back and make the chapters… more… grammatically correct? But otherwise, thanks for pointing those out for me :) Much appreciated. I'll try and fix all the chapters, I think I'll take your advice on using past tenses :) THANKS! **

And to the other people, I'm sorry that this isn't a chapter, but just so you know, I won't be able to update as much as I did the past week, the holidays are over, I have to go to school, and I have volleyball practice.But I will try to get some on once a week! Oh, and for the reviewers who were questioning about Draco liking Hermione. Sorry if I made it seem that way.. I meant to put that I'll point it out again in the next chapter Dracowas really jealous that Blake wasgetting all the attention from the girls. Since you know, Draco usually has a LOT of admirers and right now, Blake took them all... along with Harry's little posse/group/cult, whatever you want to call it.

So people, PLEASE GIVE THIS TEENAGER A BREAK! I'm only in _8th grade_ who's trying to improve onmy writing abilities, although I do like that I'm getting some feedback about my writing mistakes, it really helps. But then again, don't just rush towards the little button down at the bottom of the page and start pointing out ALL my gramatical errors, it will make me feel sad that I didn't do my best on writing it:(

xXx33 Susie

p.s. ooh! did you like the little peeves song? I made it up all on my own! BE PROUD OF ME!


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

(In the Gryffindor Common Room)

"So, Blake, is it?" Ron asked the brown haired boy.  
"Yes," he replied back then added, "Blake Richmond."  
Ron eyed the boy once more, then sighed and said in a bored practiced voice, "My name is Ron Weasely, pleasure to meet you. I was supposed to be your guide around the school, but I can see that Hermione has taken care of that."  
Blake chuckled and then leaned back into the red, plushy chair. Ron immediately stopped his little speech and asked, "What!"  
"Oh, it's nothing, but it's seems like your having loads of fun doing the whole welcoming speech to me," Blake explained. "And it seems to me like you don't really want to do this, but instead you would rather talk to your friend about something important."  
Ron laughed hesitantly, and then raked his hand through his shoulder length flaming red hair.  
"Could you tell real easily?"  
Blake nodded, his eyes caught the vibrant light from the flames in the fireplace, and this made his amber eyes shine intensely. The girls who were sitting near the two Gryffindor boys, gasped then giggled when they saw Blake's eyes flash with brilliance. Just when Blake raised his wand, Harry came down from the boy's dormitories.  
"Hullo," Harry murmured to the two boys.  
He cautiously looked at Blake, Blake returned Harry's look with a slight nod. Harry then sat next to his friend red haired friend. It was quiet for awhile, not in a pleasant way either, it was very awkward. Ron took this chance to ask Harry questions about Hermione.  
"So, Harry, erm- what exactly happened with you and Hermione?"  
Harry was about to answer him back, but Blake immediately asked, "Are you and Hermione together?"  
"No, but why do you ask?"  
"Hope you two wouldn't mind, but I find myself attracted to her," Blake responded bluntly.  
Ron had a pained look on his face while Harry had a demanding I-want-to-know-why-Blake-likes-Hermione look.  
"You two don't' mind right?" Blake questioned to his fellow Gryffindors.  
Harry looked at Ron for answers, but received none. Ron sighed in defeat, while Harry looked blankly at Blake and said in a chocked, held back voice, "I don't know."

After Hermione left her room, she walked downstairs, and then laid down on the red sofa. She looked at the cold and empty fireplace. Hermione grabbed out her wand and lighted the hearth, flames licked the insides of the silver and gold fireplace. She snuggled up in the couch looking into the fire, while in her mind, thoughts roamed around.  
"I wonder what Blake's doing right now," Hermione thought, then added, "Now I hope Harry and Ron haven't done anything stupid so that I'd stop liking him."  
She froze immediately, thinking about what she had just said about liking Blake.  
"I don't even know the guy," Hermione said out loud.  
"I'm guessing you're talking about Richmond, am I correct?"  
Hermione quickly turned her head towards the voice. She could recognize the voice from anywhere; it was Malfoy, as usual probably dying for a chance to tease her. And there he was, leaning against one of the big, fat beige colored pillars with his arms crossed in front of his chest.  
"What do you want, Malfoy?" Hermione asked in an annoyed tone.  
Draco started to walk towards the green couch and sat down while saying, "Well, I couldn't help but listening you talking about Blake. Also, don't you think it's a little strange that he's only interested in you? And this is compared to all of the other girls in Hogwarts. No offense or anything, but you aren't the only girl who's stunningly beautiful."  
The corners of the brunette's mouth started to curve upwards.  
"Malfoy, are you inferring to me that you think I'm stunningly beautiful?"  
"Are you kidding me? I was talking about ... Potter! Yeah, and obviously now Blake who might actually think that way!" Draco quickly covered up his mistake. (a/n: I guess you could say that Draco thinks that Hermione IS beautiful... both physically and mentally : )  
"Oh..." Hermione replied, still not believing him.  
Draco leaned back on the green couch and smirked, trying to maintain his position in this little chat with Hermione.  
"What? Are you disappointed that I don't think you're beautiful?"  
Hermione shot Draco a menacing look than spat out, "In your dreams!"  
Draco chuckled softly while Hermione continued to glare at him.  
"Well, now that we've talked about my life, let's talk about yours," Hermione faked a sympathetic expression while doing a brilliant impersonation of Oprah Winfrey, of course Draco Malfoy didn't know who Oprah Winfrey was.  
Draco started to disagree but she cut him off by firing him a question.  
"Are you interested in someone?"  
"No," Draco responded back in a cool tone.  
"So you're not even interested in Pansy Parkinson either?"  
Draco looked as if he swallowed something ill.  
"She's practically my sister! You could say it's like you and Weasely or you and Potter dating!"  
Hermione considered that for a moment and slowly shook her head in understandment, but then shot out another question.  
"So Harry and I being together would be out of the question."  
Draco raised one eyebrow, then asked, "Are you telling me that now you like Potter too!"  
"I didn't say that, I just meant if Harry and I were together, would it be weird?" Hermione explained more clearly.  
"Err-yeah, definitely it'd be weird, I guess. Well only for those girls who despise you completely because Potter's only interested in you, and maybe same goes with the guys for Potter because you're only interested in Golden Boy. And I'd definitely be surprised of course; I've always thought that you two were practically like family."  
"Hmm... then what about Blake?" Hermione questioned just for fun. She was having fun and enjoyed that Draco was getting all passionate about this whole idea who she should date or shouldn't.  
"Are you kidding me! That idiot who thinks he's so bloody attractive to other girls and probably is just a big arse? Just go be with Potter, anyone besides Blake," Draco instructed sternly.  
"But didn't you just say that it would be weird for me and Harry being a couple?" Hermione pointed out.  
"Well, anyone besides Blake would be fine," Draco responded.  
"I think you're starting to sound like an older brother who's trying to protect his little sister from all the evil little boys out there in the school," Hermione teased.  
"Riiiight," Draco stretched out the syllables.  
Hermione glanced up at the clock, which only read 9:15 pm. Draco's eyes followed her, Hermione felt him looking at her. She immediately felt uncomfortable so made an excuse that she was tired and wanted to go to bed early. While getting up Hermione told Draco good night, but then whispered, "You know Malfoy; you've been acting weird lately."  
Hermione then immediately turned around to walk up the stairs and into her bedroom. Draco actually did hear the little tidbit of what the Gryffindor had just said, but he still couldn't believe it himself.

In the morning, Hermione had strong intentions of not flirting with Blake Richmond, and this was of course a very new to her since she rarely flirted. Especially her thinking about guys in the morning was extremely rare. Hermione stretched in her crimson red sheets, she looked at a clock that was placed in her room, and it read 8:30 am. Classes wouldn't start until ten o'clock, so she had enough time to walk around the school, take a shower, eat breakfast, go to the library and then go to class. Hermione quickly jumped out of her bed and walked towards her trunk, she didn't really have enough time for unpacking and placing her clothes inside the mahogany colored wardrobe. She rummaged inside her trunk looking for her white Addidas track suit that had two parallel black stripes on the sides. When she found them, she put them on, tied her hair, and then opened her door to find Draco Malfoy in a similar outfit as hers, except his was black with white stripes. Draco looked at Hermione, sort of shocked from the sudden opening of the door.  
"I see you're out to exercise?" Hermione asked to the still frozen Draco.  
"Erm-.. Yeah," Draco coughed while slowly moving towards the staircases.  
Hermione followed Draco down the stairs, but paused when they were about to turn to go to the portrait opening.  
"Malfoy, um... about last night," Hermione started, hoping that the rights were about to come out of her mouth.  
"Nothing happened, we just talked," Draco finished Hermione's sentence without even looking her way.  
Hermione crossed her arms across her chest, she did this very often when she was angry or just nervous, and right now she was angry.  
"MALFOY!" she yelled.  
Draco slowly turned around, he looked angry for some reason also.  
"What do you want!" Draco spat out.  
Hermione had a questioning look on her face; she was really confused of what was happening. Last night they were getting along fine, but now Draco was being his usual self, a self-centered prat.  
"Malfoy, I thought that we were all ... right, you know, being actual friends," Hermione managed to say.  
Draco had a disgusted look on his face; he turned back around and headed towards the portrait hole.  
"Don't you dare leave without explaining what's happening?" Hermione yelled to the Slithering.  
Draco quickly turned around and walked quickly towards her, his face only inches from her face.  
"You want to know what's happening. One, you think that we're friends, when we're not. Why would I be friends with a mudblood bitch like you? Two, we're never going to be friends; I have to uphold my position as a pureblood. And three, that little chat we had last night was nothing, and always will be nothing, YOU are nothing to me," Draco whispered in a harsh tone.  
Hermione's eyes welled up in tears, one tear threatening to fall down her face. She couldn't let him see that he was getting under her skin like he always did.  
"You know what Malfoy? I thought you changed, but I guess not. You're still an egotistical, self-centered brat who will never have anyone in the world to care for you. You're going to be heartless and cruel just like your father, which means you're going to end up in the same stupid mess as he was in!" Hermione yelled with all her might. She pushed Draco roughly on his chest, and then ran out the room.  
Draco bent his head down and sighed.  
"She doesn't know what she's doing to me. Every fucking time I see her, something is the matter with me, I try hard not to stutter, so I just end up hurting her badly. What the hell is wrong with me," Draco yelled out loud.  
Draco slammed his fist into a nearby couch making a loud resounding thump. He soon kicked ferociously into the green couch, partially damaging his big toe.  
"God damnit!" the platinum haired boy yelled out.  
He obviously didn't realize that the brunette Gryffindor could have been standing right outside the portrait hole, listening to every single thing that he said. Hermione slid slowly down on the ground, her head leaning against the stone wall. She was shocked that Draco would feel that way about her, didn't he hate her? It's the way things are, him hating her and her hating him, it's the regular why she had lived since the first year of Hogwarts. She was so used to him being angry at her, but since this year over the summer and now, he's been nicer to her. Almost scary even, but still, she sort of enjoyed that the both of them were getting along. And now, after what she had just listened to, she didn't want to be near him anymore if she's making him do this. Hermione started to run through the corridors, when she finally reached the Hogwarts grounds outside. She immediately started to run, trying to put everything behind her by running and running, as fast as she could. While running, she thought about just moving out of the Head Common Rooms completely, if she and Malfoy are becoming to be a problem there was no reason for her to stay in the same living quarters as him. She immediately thought of Ginny, but then realized that Ginny was in a year lower than her, so she thought of Lavender and Parvarti. They aren't really all that bad, if you get used to their excessive talk about boys and their high pitched giggling.  
Hermione ran around the lake, towards the Quidditch Field, until she met her destination. She gazed up towards the many towers that surrounded the football sized stadium. (A/n: I'm going British people, football soccer) Hermione slowly walked through the stadium, finally reaching the grassy stadium; she sat down on the grass. She soon heard two male voices that became familiar to her; they belonged to Harry and Ron. Harry and Ron were wearing their red and gold Quidditch uniforms with their brooms in hand. Hermione got up and ran towards them, Harry and Ron didn't even notice her until she arrived, flying into Harry's arms.  
"Um... Hermione?" Harry asked, he was hugging her back, but he didn't know the reason why.  
"Shush," Hermione replied while burying her head deeper into Harry's neck.  
Ron looked like he was about to laugh out loud, but soon was given a glare from Harry and a little motion to leave them. He let out a chuckle and a whisper of 'finally' and rode off on his broom.  
Harry and Hermione stood there for awhile, neither of them saying a word. Until, Harry slowly released his brunette friend, Hermione started talking.  
"Harry, I've made a huge mistake of everything. Especially thinking that Malfoy would be my friend, but I guess not. I'm so sorry Harry, for what you had to go through over the summer. I'm really sorry," Hermione started to ramble, when Harry replied back while hugging her again.  
"Mia, its okay. What are friends for?"  
Hermione pushed Harry back slightly, "Friends?"  
"Yeah, aren't we friends?" Harry questioned, he was beginning to be confused. Didn't Hermione just want to be friends? Didn't she only want that from him? Just to be there for her like a brother, just like Ron.  
"Harry," Hermione started out, "I'm beginning to think that we should be more than friends. Of course, it's your choice. I mean, I know I haven't exactly approved of you liking me over the summer, but that changed. And - "  
Hermione was cut off by Harry, "Hermione is that what I am? A guy friend who you want as a boyfriend just because Malfoy dumped you!"  
"Harry, Malfoy and I were never together," she tried explaining.  
"Really," Harry replied sarcastically.  
"You have to believe me!"  
"But what's with the change of heart all of the sudden now that we're back at school?" Harry asked.  
"I don't know," Hermione replied back to the raven-haired boy although she knew exactly why she was doing this.  
Harry looked at Hermione, his bright green eyes clashing against Hermione's hazel colored eyes, "Hermione are you serious?"  
"Do I have to prove that I want to be with you?" Hermione asked while moving a little closer to Harry.  
Harry smiled deviously and replied, "Possibly."  
At this point in time, Hermione was only a few centimeters away from Harry's face. She wrapped her arms around his well developed shoulders while leaning closer. It seemed like ages until Hermione's lips made their way towards Harry's. Their kiss was simple and careful. Harry treated her as if she was fragile china, but still had a firm grip on Hermione's waist as if Hermione was a dream and if he let go, she'd disappear. But while kissing, Harry was smiling, and Hermione felt it. She started to giggle, and caused her to separate from the Gryffindor boy. Harry still had his arms around Hermione's waist, in the end. In the end, Hermione had to coax Harry that she was still here and would always be there for him to let her go. Harry, keeping one arm around her, sat on his broom, and then led Hermione to sit behind him. He finally lowered his arm around her waist, but instead Hermione quickly wrapped her arms around his waist. Harry started to laugh.  
"Not funny! You of all the people know that I don't like flying!" Hermione complained to the young man.  
"Well, I decided that it's time for you to learn to enjoy flying," Harry replied to Hermione.  
While they were in the air, Draco was sitting on the ground by a far away tree that had a full view of the people flying in the stadium. He sighed, when looking at the new couple flying around. Somewhere in his mind he started to regret that he even suggested Granger to go and become a couple with Potter. Draco sighed on last time, he got up and left the Hogwarts Grounds. Leaving the new couple, what he said to her earlier, and lastly, Hermione.

OKAY, so how was it? I know it sucked, and sorry if there are STILL grammar mistakes. If anybody has a problem with it, fine. At least I'm not using computer slang and that whole lot. I'm still learning, so please, just understand that I just let microsoft check it for me. I DON'T DO IT MANUALLY!  
And I'm also sorry for not updating for long, my computer broke down, and now I'm typing this on my laptop that I just got yesterday. Don't worry, if this one breaks down, I've got the other computer to go. So I think you all are all set for the winter break :)

OH! Before I get to the reveiwers... I see that nobody liked my Peeves song:( I'm sad.. hahah I'm just kidding. But there is a little hidden meaning in there. Try and figure it out!

BOTH CHAPTER SEVEN AND EIGHT REVIEWERS :

**Inulover4eva** : I'm glad that you liked this, and I hope that this suits you? I'm sorry that there isn't more Draco and Hermione, but the whole Harry and Hermione thing is a part of the MAIN plot. I'm sorry! But HANG ON! I'll get to the Draco and Hermione part sooner or later! Yeah.. new kid bad nes.  
**rizahawkeye21** : thank you! I thought that was a little funny that Draco yelled at Hermione. I mean.. come on.. Hermione? Doing the infamous Malfoy smirk? Scary... haha. Although this wasn't a great chapter, I hope you enjoy it.  
**silversmile **: oh.. I hope you like this chapter! It's so bad though... :(  
**rowlinghermione : **I thought about it too, your right, Draco wouldn't be falling for Hermione that quickly. Yeah, it's a little weird. So I sort of changed it up for you right here in this chapter. I hope this was a little bit okay. Yeah.. she does notice.. sort of. heh. AHH! Thank you for the compliments.. I don't really write all that well. I know this chapter sucks, but hey, there are times when some people can't even write at all.. formerly known as WRITERS BLOCK! And about the whole writing thing, like I said above, I'm not really going to spend my entire time thinking about all the mistakes that I have in the fic. I mean, if a little people complained to me that I should correct my gramatical errors, then believe me, I would. But in this case, only one reviewer told me that. Anyway.. THANK YOU!  
**U-No-Poo-Too** : Thanks! Wow, I'm amazed that people didn't realize that I seemed like an 8th grade writer. I'm sort of pleased. :) Like I said to rowlinghermione, if many people complained to me about my gramatical mistakes, then I would've gone back and changed them. Well, at least I'm not writing like those people who write in internet slang and don't capitilize things that should be capitilized. Anyways.. thanks for reviewing. Oh, and athough this isn't the greatest chapter, I hope you enjoyed it!  
**crazyboy88 **: thank you! Hope you enjoy this one.  
**kakashisninjadogs** : phew.. that is one hard screen name to write out! laughing but I still love it. Don't worry, I think I'm trying to make you hate Blake. He's one of those guys who are just new and all the girls needed a someone new in the school. You know.. it's sort of like.. you've known this group of kids for so long but now that a new kid arrives, you're all like.. wow he's amazing. It's sort of like that, if that even made sense. Well, hope you liked this chapter, although I hated it.  
**i take people's whits** : very creative screen name like kakashisninjadogs! lol. well.. thank you for telling me that this is a really good story. well, once you read later on, after I actually post it on here, I'm not so sure this will make you feel all giddy inside. It'll be a little.. frustrating and wanting for ... BLANK ... to go and BLANK... and BLANK with BLANK. Yeah.. can't tell you. sorry. :)  
**SharonAurora :** I don't think I'm going to change my story to Romance/Humor just because it has cute lines. The angst part is for later in the chapters. WAAAAYYY later.  
**dRAcO maLFoY Is hOt **: thank you! I know, I plan on not worrying about the grammar too much. If a lot of people complain, then I'm going to change it, but otherwise, nope.. I'm going to leave it as it is.  
**SharpielovesHarry** : I know.. I plan to lighten up about my mistakes. If many people arecomplaing (this is like the fifth time I'm saying this) I'll correct it, but otherwise, OH WELL. I'm leaving it as it is.

THANKS FOR ALL THE REVIEWS! have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone! ... I'm going to update sooner or later. And thanks for holding out for so long! I know I shouldn't push my luck, but I'm planning to reach... 49 for reviews. And I can't thank you all so much for making it past the number fourty:)

xXx33 susie


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

After the very exciting yet terrifying event of flying around the Quidditch Field with Harry Potter, Hermione returned back to the Head Common Rooms. She was very hesitant at first, but she decided that one more day would be all right for Draco. Wait, she shouldn't be worrying about what Draco Malfoy, King of the Snobby Blonde Pricks of the World, is worrying about, nevertheless, her. She took a luxurious shower, although it was short, it had a calming effect on her. She used her vanilla scented shampoo along with the vanilla scented conditioner. After the shower, she got out, wrapped a towel around her and walked towards the large, marble sinks. She made sure that the doors were locked just by glancing at the doors; she then took off her towel and started to get dressed. She started off with a white blouse, red and yellow lined tie with a Gryffindor lion at the bottom, a plaid red and yellow lined skirt, and finally her long black Hogwarts robes. (A/n: Don't be silly, of course she's wearing her bra and pants.) Hermione soon heard and unmistakable cough yet again, but a cool, angry voice was heard soon.

"Get out of the bathroom! Know matter how much you may look at yourself in the mirror you won't change from your pitiful, ugly, mudblood look! So deal with it and just get out of the fucking bathroom!" Draco yelled while he kept on throwing insults at Hermione.

"WHY DON'T YOU JUST GO SCREW PANSY AGAIN, FERRETT BOY!" Hermione screamed, hoping the Pansy comment would make him feel horrible and mad.

And soon enough, a fierce spell was shouted from the side where Draco's room was located at. Just as the words were out of his mouth, the door slammed open. There was Draco Malfoy, red in the face from yelling and being practically insulted about screwing around with Pansy, and his wand held out in front of him. Hermione rolled her eyes and returned back to dry her hair. Although her hair could be dried quickly with a flick of a wand, she just decided make Malfoy's blood boil even more by just staying longer in the bathroom.

"Mudblood, look at me right now," Draco ordered, he still had his wand out in front of his face.  
(A/n: Is he doing what I think he's doing!)

Hermione slowly looked at Draco; she feigned shock that he was in the bathroom.

"Oh my! Malfoy! What in heavens name are you doing in the bathroom!"

"Shut up," the blonde Slytherin harshly replied, then bowed his head slightly towards her.

Hermione couldn't believe what Draco Malfoy was doing. He wanted to duel in the bathroom just because she was spending a little time in there. She leveled her eyes with Draco's, but jumped up slightly when she noticed the fierce anger driven behind his eyes.

"Malfoy, you want to duel over a bathroom!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Are you going to duel with me or what!"

Hermione narrowed her eyes with a scowl on her face. She reached into her robe pocket and grabbed her wand, she raised it to her face then bowed identically just like Malfoy. She stepped back three paces and then raised her wand threateningly.

Draco knew that he wasn't smart in dueling with the smartest witch in the whole school, but he just needed to do something. He didn't care if he hurt her anymore; he left his past feelings for her as a friend behind and went back to full hatred.

"Expelliarmus!" Hermione yelled out.

Draco was quicker then that, he ducked the spell that was thrown at him. He came back with a stunning spell which hit Hermione square on her chest, throwing her back against the sharp pointed edge of the marble sink. Hermione could tell that this was going to be a painless duel from the way it was going. Hermione, still on the ground pointed her wand at Draco and yelled out the Impedimenta Curse. This caught Draco by surprise, but fell back slowly, and then Hermione took this advantage to use another spell on him.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

The Slytherin's body jerked and hit the ground with a loud thump, he was petrified. Hermione finally slowly got up from the ground, gripping the sink tightly. She had a harsh intake of breath; something was poking her side rather harshly.

"Damnit, Malfoy. I'm going to kill you as soon as I get this checked up."

Hermione opened the door to her room which was located in the right hand side of the bathroom. She took a glance back at Draco, who was still frozen and was lying on the beige tiled floor. The Gryffindor soon closed the door, and looked around to search for her schoolbag, when she spotted it finally. Hermione picked it up, and placed it on her unharmed side. She even thought of saying the counter course to un-freeze Malfoy, but she decided it might be a bad idea, especially since he was the one who nearly wanted to her dead. Hermione decided that she was just going to tell Madam Pomfrey while she was up there that Draco was in their bathroom stunned. She knew this would be a bad idea, especially since Madam Pomfrey would be a little but curious why Draco Malfoy was in a frozen state while Hermione had a bad bruise or whatever she had on her back. Although she didn't want the whole school to know that their two Heads were in a duel together in the bathroom, she knew that if she went up there all alone, she'd end up being in a more horrible state then she was in right now. And then she realized that maybe Ron or Harry could help her with the problem, but she surely couldn't fix her hip or whatever she has by herself. The Gryffindor stopped where she was and started to run towards the opposite direction that led to the Gryffindor Common Room.

* * *

Once Hermione arrived, she felt a rush of memories cross through her mind. She remembered when Ron, Harry, and she sneaked out of the Common Rooms so many times during the late hours at night. She smiled faintly, but then realized that she had something to do, and she needed Ron's and Harry's friend. The brunette Gryffindor said the password out loud and was permitted to enter. The fat lady's portrait slowly swung open, creaking along the way. When she stepped in, she was greeted by some of the few students who were trying to finish their last night's homework.

"Hullo Hermione!" Seamus Finnigan yelled out while finally looking up from his parchment, quill in hand.

Hermione smiled and then asked, "Do you know where Harry and Ron are at?"

Seamus faked a thoughtful expression while tapping one of his fingers to his lips. Hermione placed her hands on her hips while tapping her foot impatiently.

"Okay, okay, Hermione," Seamus said while giving up too easily. "They just got back from taking a shower; both of them should be in the boys' dormitories."

Hermione murmured a thanks and ran as fast as she could, which wasn't all that fast, to the boy's dormitories to go and meet her friends. Once she arrived, she sighed, from finally getting up the stairs, and then glanced around the room. It was slightly messy, clothes weren't exactly everywhere on the floor, but it still wasn't the girls' dormitories, which was clean.

"Hermione! What are you doing here?" Harry asked while walking in from another door from the other side of the room with a towel in hand. Ron came out with him, both of them wearing their school uniforms with slightly wet hair.

"Harry, Malfoy and I had a duel in our bathroom and I know, it sounds bloody retarded, but him being a self-centered bastard that he is, challenged me with a bloody duel. And now he's just lying on the fucking bathroom floor, petrified because I hexed him and now I don't have a bloody clue what to do. I also have this awful pain in the back because of that bloody ferret after the stunning charm that he did!" Hermione yelled with run-on sentences.

Harry bounded towards Hermione then grabbed her by the shoulders lightly while glancing at her back for any major injuries. He did notice the large bloody stain on the back, and immediately hugged the brunette tightly.

"Ow! Harry, you're hurting me," Hermione responded.

"Sorry, but your in such a bad shape right now. I-.. I don't know what to say," Harry whispered in Hermione's ear.

Ron looked like he was about to gag, he was also making funny faces that only Harry could see. He made a brilliant impression of a monkey, and Harry couldn't help but smile.

"I know I may come off as only wanting you do something for me, especially since this morning, but I don't know what to do, Harry. If I just left him there my conscience would eat me alive, but if I said the counter-curse, I doubt I'd be alive right now," Hermione responded, trying to explain what she was going through.

"Hermione, I wouldn't dream of thinking of you only wanting me to do things for you," Harry responded while smiling faintly, then added quickly, "You're going to the Hospital Wing immediately, and Ron and I can go to your Head Common Room to go handle Malfoy,"

"Harry, I'm fine, I'm sure it's just a little scratch, and I want to help you and Ron," Hermione tried persuading Harry.

"No, Mia, I can't let you do that. I'm sorry..." Harry said not giving into Hermione's pleas, and then leaned in to give Hermione a quick kiss on the lips then dashed away with Ron at his side.

Hermione let out an exasperated sigh then limped towards the Hospital Wing.

* * *

While Hermione left Draco on the floor of the bathroom, he was only allowed to think.

_Did I just attack her? Wait... didn't I want her to be hurt so I can feel better about it? What is the real purpose of hurting Granger? _

'I think that's your way of cutting your wrists.'

_Not you again. _

'What really is the matter with you, seriously? I'm your conscience, I'm here twenty-four/seven whether you like it or not, so deal with it.'

_It's not really that, but you're just so damn annoying._

'At least I didn't lose a duel to a Mudblood.'

_Well, like you said, you're my conscience and whatever I do; you're probably instructing me to do it. So... technically, yes, you DID lose a duel against Granger._

'You can't see it, but I'm rolling my eyes at you!'

_You're crazy. _

'Like you said, my actions are partially you're actions, so technically, yes, I think you are crazy too.'

_You seriously are unbelievable. _

Draco kept talking to his so-called conscience, when he heard the loud resounding creak from downstairs. He thought it was Hermione, coming back from possibly the Hospital Wing, to come and un-freeze him. But when he heard his friends, Blaise and Pansy, call out his name, he grew surprised.

_I thought Granger was coming to help me. _

'Um... after that little duel that you had with her, I doubt that she'll be in a thirty foot radius of you.'

_Great, that's just positively smashing. _

'Well, didn't you "leave" Granger in your past, and that you didn't want anything to do with her.'

_That's true. _

Draco couldn't think of it anymore since Blaise and Pansy arrived in the bathroom.

"What happened," Blaise asked the blonde headed boy with a hint of laughter in his voice.

Pansy gaped at the brown haired boy and hit him upside the head, "Do you think he's capable of answering you when he's frozen? You're such a twit."

"Heh... I knew that."

"And you call yourself a wizard," Pansy murmured under her breath then said the counter-curse for Draco.

The blonde headed Slytherin immediately got up and brushed invisible dust from his cloak and looked at his friends in the eyes.

"You know, I think I scared her real good," Draco smirked.

"That's the old Draco we all know and love," Blaise commented.

Even though Draco was petrified for awhile by a Mudblood, he couldn't help but be in a good mood. The three of them walked out of the bathroom and headed downstairs, while going down, Blaise and Pansy commented on how the Head Common Rooms were lavishly furnished and that it was much warmer than the Slytherin's Common Rooms. Once they were all out of the sun and moon portrait, they walked towards the Great Hall for breakfast.

Meanwhile, the two boys who were running as fast as they could towards the Head Common Rooms stopped in front of the portrait that would lead them in there.

"Damn, what was the password again?" Ron muttered.

The painting of the sun frowned at them, knowing that they shouldn't be here unless it was something important. While the other side of the painting, which had the moon, smiled

"You won't get in here without a password, boys," the sun replied shining violently.

"Oh hush. Now, boys, what do you want?" the moon kindly asked while shutting the sun up.

Harry and Ron exchanged a glance of confusion, but then got to the point to ask the painting if a blonde male came out of the room recently.

"Why would you want to know," the sun butted in once again.

"Will you hush up for one bloody minute!" the moon scolded.

The sun frowned, but nevertheless, he didn't say anything the rest of the time Harry and Ron were talking to the moon.

The moon thought for a moment and then responded, "Well, yes, we did see a blonde male coming out of the room, but he was accompanied by a male and a female, both of their hair a shade of brown."

"Great, Pansy and Blaise got to them before us," Harry told Ron.

"Thank you," Ron told the painting then grabbed Harry by the arm and led him to the Great Hall. Harry had planned on going up to the infirmary, but Ron convinced Harry that Hermione could take care of herself, and that she didn't need the both of them breathing down her neck.

* * *

At the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomfrey ushered the Gryffindor in immediately.

"Miss Granger! Out of all the people, you were dueling? And may I ask whom?"

"Malfoy," Hermione murmured.

The nurse didn't catch what she was saying so she asked the brunette to speak up.

"It was Malfoy, we were dueling for know reason too. He just came in without permission and challenged me to a duel with him," Hermione tried to explain while shortening the whole event.

"Miss Granger, I know you have enough sense to turn down the boy, but you just agreed," the nurse scolded the girl while looking over her body for damages.

Once Madam Pomfrey found that her back had a long bloody gash, she set to work immediately. It wasn't a piece of cake healing the gash, who knew colliding into a marble sink, even with clothes, would cause such damage. As soon as Hermione was fully healed, she received a short lecture from the nurse to not get into any more duels, especially with Draco. Hermione agreed quickly, she definitely wasn't going to be anywhere near Malfoy.

Hermione walked out of the infirmary just a little sore on her back. When she arrived at the Great Hall, she was met up by Harry and Ron asking about how she was doing.

"I'm fine, it was just a scratch," Hermione told her best friends, trying to wave off the subject.

Harry gave her a stern look, but Ron decided to drop it and finished what he was doing, which was obviously stuffing his face full of food. Hermione couldn't help but watch and laugh at Ron.

"Wware oo waffling ahh eee?" Ron asked in a completely different language because of him talking with his mouth full.

"Ronald, I don't know what in Merlin's beard you're talking about, so swallow and tell me," Hermione ordered Ron in a motherly fashion while laughing slightly.

"I said, are you laughing at me," Ron responded after fully chewing his food, but soon started on muffins.

"Ron, are you always that hungry?" Harry asked even though he already knew the answer.

"Why of course, Harry my boy. That's why I'm still here in Hogwarts!" Ron yelled out happily.

Both Hermione and Harry laughed at this and started to talk about what they were going to do this weekend at Hogsmeade.

While on the other side of the Hall at the Slytherin's table, Draco, Blaise, and Pansy were discussing about Hermione.

"You know, you really should just move out and come back down to our place," Pansy told the blonde.

"And leave her to the huge room to her Mudblood self? I don't think so, no matter how much I'd love to," Draco replied, and then added, "Why couldn't we have Head Rooms in our own Houses?"

"That crackpot old fool called Dumbledore believes in 'Uniting Houses'," Blaise replied while faking an impression of their Headmaster.

He transfigured his goblet into a pair of half moon spectacles that resembled Dumbledore's placed them on his face, mumbling nonsense, waving his arms around like a crazy chicken, and crossing his eyes. The whole Slytherin table erupted in laughter once they caught a sight of Blaise. Professor Snape threw Blaise a glare and mouthed to control himself then finished his discussion with Professor McGonagall. After their little fun, the boys started to talk about the upcoming Quidditch matches while Pansy rolled her eyes and talked to the other girls that surrounded them about how guys would die if Quidditch didn't exist.

Hermione looked up from her conversation to find Draco Malfoy looking coldly at her. She didn't drop eye contact even while she was talking to her friends.

"Hermione, what are you looking at?" Ginny Weasely asked the brunette girl.

"It's nothing important," Hermione responded while still glaring back at the blonde.

This happened when Harry, Ron, Seamus, and Neville were talking. One particular subject came to them; it was Hermione and Harry finally becoming a couple.

"Finally, Harry. It's been what, two years that we've all been waiting for you two to be together," Seamus said with his thick Irish accent.

Harry just smiled shyly; he was still shocked that Hermione would return his feelings, and just saying that they were a couple out loud made him feel embarrassingly happy. Ron then looked at Ginny then Neville who were sitting rather close to each other but talking separately to their friends. The red head narrowed his eyes dangerously then asked Neville, "Are you and my sister together?"

Neville, who was busy congratulating Harry, didn't hear what Ron had just said.

"What? Sorry, didn't hear you, I was talking to Harry," Neville told the red head.

"Are you going out with my sister," Ron asked his eyes still narrowed.

Neville gulped while tapping his girlfriend on her shoulder, Ginny turned around to face her brother who was looking rather dangerously at her boyfriend.

"Gin, are you really going out with him?" Ron asked just to clear the whole thing up once more.

"Yes, and is there a problem with that?" Ginny replied.

Harry, Seamus, and Hermione glanced towards to the three, wanting to know what Ron would do next.

"Well then," Ron started, but raised his hand up over his head.

Neville cringed, thinking that Ron was about to hit him or do something worse. The red head slapped the boy next to him on the back and finished what he said, "Congratulations mate."

The people who were watching this all happened started to laugh, while Neville sighed deeply then turned to Ginny to give her a peck on the cheek.

"Now, now, just because you're going out with my sister, doesn't mean you have to get all mushy gushy on her in front of me," Ron said while sliding away from Neville a bit. The red head still was recovering from the relationship with Lavender he had with her last year. Hermione just shook her head side to side still thinking that Ron would never mature.

Although Hermione broke eye contact for awhile, Draco still kept looking at her. The way she laughed, the way she rolled her eyes when something Ron said was utterly stupid, to way she bit her bottom lip when she was trying hard not to laugh.

"Hullloooooo, is anybody in there?" Blaise asked his friend while waving one of his hands in front of Draco's face.

Draco snapped back into reality, and then looked at Blaise who was looking at him strangely.

"Why are you looking at _her_?"

"What are you bloody talking about," Draco replied but knowing exactly that Blaise had caught him looking at the brunette Gryffindor.

Blaise's voice turned down into a whisper, "I know this may sound crazy and all, but, do you like her?"

Draco who was currently drinking pumpkin juice, nearly choked when Blaise told him this. The blonde set down his goblet quickly and coughed hard, once he stopped, he gasped then asked his friend, "Are you trying to kill me? Of course not!"

"That's not what it seems like to me," Blaise muttered under his breath, but just loud enough for Draco to hear.

* * *

The Gryffindors were to have Transfiguration with the Slytherins today, and unfortunately, they had Potions together also. While Hermione, Ron, and Harry were walking towards the Charms Room, Ron was complaining like he did every year, why they had to have classes with the Slytherins.

"Why can't we have Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws when we have doubles! Is Dumbledore out to get me or something?" Ron asked hysterically.

"I think we lost him," Harry muttered to Hermione.

"We lost him since second year after he found out for the first time that we were having classes with Slytherins, Harry," Hermione corrected her boyfriend.

"Just because I'm whining over here doesn't mean I'm deaf!" Ron told the two.

Harry and Hermione jumped up slightly, but then laughed it off.

"Ron, nothing gets by you, does it," Hermione asked while laughing.

"Nope!" Ron replied while puffing out his chest.

Harry reached over to hold Hermione's hand; he slightly brushed her hand with his fingertips. Hermione looked up at Harry then smiled while intertwining her fingers into his. Draco, who was only a few steps behind, whispered something to Pansy and Blaise. He then walked a little quicker towards the "Golden Trio" and hit Hermione aggressively on her shoulder making her hand immediately reach over to touch the place where he hit her, and that hand had to be the one Hermione was holding Harry's. Just after hitting her, he sharply turned into the class room that they were supposed to go into. While they were walking into the Charms Room, Harry just thought that it was rivalry between the Gryffindors and the Slytherins. But Hermione saw past it and realized that Draco didn't want Hermione to hold hands with him, and didn't want Hermione to be together with him.

"You okay?" Harry asked in a kind tone.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but I'm not so sure that _he_ is," Hermione referred to the particular blonde who was sitting in one of the many tables that were scattered around in the classroom. The both of them walked in with Ron at their side, Harry found courage once more and held hands with Hermione. Draco obviously noticed, he grimaced, his plan didn't exactly work the way he wanted it too.

DRACO'S PLAN FORMED IN HIS MIND

_Draco pushed Hermione roughly by the shoulder rather aggressively. Hermione dropped her hand that was currently held by Harry and immediately rubbed the place where she was hurt. The raven-haired boy would be acting stupid and wouldn't realize that the Slytherin didn't want the two of them together. While Hermione, who figured out that Draco was intentionally trying to harm her new relationship that she was currently in with Harry. The brunette girl immediately ran away from her boyfriend to talk some sense into Draco. Immediately when she walked in, she was pushed up against the stone walls of the classroom and was face to face with Malfoy. _

_"What is your fucking problem?" Hermione yelled to the blonde boy._

_Draco smirked than replied, "You cold say it's my favorite past-time to make your blood boil."_

_Hermione's lip were formed into a thin line, "And I thought you could sink-"_

_The Gryffindor girl was interrupted by a pair of lips crashing into hers. Her eyes fluttered open, finding the blonde Slytherin in front of her. Hermione accidentally emitted a low moan into his mouth, he responded by smiling while kissing her. Harry walked into the room confused because his girlfriend walked off without him but, he didn't expect her to be snogging with his rival, Draco Malfoy. _

_"HERMIONE!" the green-eyed boy yelled._

_The two stopped their passionate snog..._

_**(A/N: JUST SO YOU KNOW... I'M SCREWING WITH YOU GIRLS AND GUYS. Draco definately didn't think this way. I became bored, so I just made that up. My former plan was to put that up where the whole pushing thing really started, and then tell you that I was just screwing around. Well... sorry about that, I'm being a little immature. haha. Anyways, happy readings.. oh and remember.. this isn't the original plan that Draco was thinking of. It's coming up right now.)**_

All Draco wanted Hermione to do was just get upset and figure out that he didn't want Hermione to be with Harry. Although he did say before, between Blake and Harry, Harry would be the better one, didn't exactly mean that she was supposed to literally go out with him. The blonde Slytherin glared at the couple who were sitting in the middle table of the classroom with Weasel.

_What does she see in both of them, anyway? _Draco thought quietly in his head while noticing that underneath the table, Harry and Hermione were still holding hands. The blonde grimaced in disgust, but then caught himself.

_Wait, why should I care that the two are holding hands together, it's not like I'm in love with her or anything. _

Draco kept thinking to himself, but was soon disrupted when Professor Flitwick tapped his wand on his desk three times to grab the attention to his students.

"Now, today, you will be working in pairs to charm your partners to look different physically. The incantation is rather simple, _glamphora imagera_, but the wrist movement is a bit difficult. It will depend on what you plan on changing, if you were to change the color of your hair or the length, you would have to point towards your hair. Mr. Finnigan, you're going to poke someone's eye out, just wait until I'm done explaining," the tiny professor started to explain to his students. Although the Professor made it seem as if it was utterly impossible to understand in what they were about to do, it was really easy. You just had to twirl your wrist twice in front of the place where you wanted something to be changed while thinking what you wanted it to look like in your mind.

"Could we change our partner's clothing, by any chance," Dean asked mischievously.

"Why, yes, you can," Professor Flitwick answered, unaware of what Dean was thinking. (A/n: pshh yeah right.)

He continued telling his students the proper way to flick their wrists while saying the incantation, and while this was happening, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were having a bit of trouble with the pairing issue.

"Hermione, you wouldn't mind if I worked with Harry, would you?" Ron whispered towards the brown haired girl.

Hermione glanced at Harry, who gave her the same look that she had on right now, confusion.

"Well, I thought that I would work with Harry," Hermione answered in a hushed tone while glancing towards Professor Flitwick just in case he was aware of them speaking to each other. She couldn't stand getting caught, so she grabbed out an extra piece of parchment, this caught a few students who weren't listening to look at the Gryffindor, but once she started to scribble away madly with her quill, they presumed that she was taking notes as usual.

A/n: Hermione's notes will end in Hr and Harry is H and Ron is R. Simple enough? Oh, just so you know, they all have a piece of parchment on their desks but the type of quill that they are using is magical and allows whatever they write onto the other person's paper, or whoever they want it to appear on.)

_'Ron, please?' Hr_

_'But Hermione, can't I work with my best mate, Harry here, just for today?' R_

_'I feel special.' H_

_'Was that a sarcastic remark or what, because you can't exactly be sarcastic on paper.' R_

_'Oh shush the both of you.' Hr_

_'Don't shush me!' R_

_'Sorry mate, but she already did.' H_

_'So that's how it is, is it? Taking sides with your girlfriend instead of your friend? I see how it is Harry.' R_

_'You may not know right now, but I'm rolling my eyes at you.' H_

_'You two are so immature!' Hr_

Harry and Ron exchanged a glance, followed by a wide smile. Ron gave a nod and the both of them started to write something on their parchment.

_'But you still love us, Mia.' H & R_

_'You-.. Did you just plan to write it at the same time, just a few seconds ago!' Hr_

_'I'm aghast Hermione, can Harry and I not share the same thoughts as one another!' R_

_'Fine Ron, but what are we going to do about the whole pairing issue?' Hr_

_'Harry's with me and you can be with...' R_

_'Well, I guess Ron does have a point. I promise that we'll spend more time together later though.' H_

_'... Fine, but it better be something worthwhile.' Hr_

_'Oh gross! I don't need to know your little rendezvous with Harry. But anyways, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU, MIA!' R_

Hermione glanced up from her parchment and sighed, she didn't really have anyone to work with now. She just hoped that Professor Flitwick would just assign partners so that it would be a lot easier for her and probably man other students, other students like Neville or even Malfoy. The Slytherin was in the same position as she was, he has two friends and she has two friends. Most likely their two friends would want to work together, leaving them out. Almost at the same time, the both of them sighed, thinking of their awful outcome with the whole pairing issue.

"All right then, let's see..." Professor Flitwick looked around the room.

"Zambini and Potter. Parkinson and Weasely. Bulstrode and Longbottom. Malfoy and Granger. Thom-"

The Charms professor was interrupted by a very outraged Slytherin.

"Are you kidding me? I have to work with _her_! It's like I'm bloody cursed or something, she's always around with me everywhere!"

"Mr. Malfoy, will you please sit back down," Professor Flitwick told his student before finishing the pairings.

Draco slumped down on his chair with a pout on his face, while Hermione looked as if she had just swallowed something very disgusting. The both of them glanced at each other, just to see how the other person was dealing, but it was pretty obvious that the both of them weren't taking it so well. Especially with what happened in the morning, they had to work together and act as if nothing happened, or they could just use misuse the charm and force each other to look stupid.

"Now, if you would, please go to your assigned partners and begin," the professor told his students.

The sound of chairs being pushed back were heard around the whole room, the charms professor then made all the tables to be pushed against the walls with chairs stacked on top of them. There were pairs of students scattered around everywhere in the classroom, but one particular pair, were found in a corner glaring at each other. Hermione quickly grabbed out her wand and pointed it towards Draco's hair; she thought for a second, she suddenly had an evil idea pop up in her mind.

"Glamphora imagera!" Hermione muttered while twirling her wrist twice at Draco's hair.

Draco, at the time was looking at his friend Blaise trying to manage with Potter. It was when he noticed that his hair turned a dark brown and started to grow over his eyes, it was more of a shaggy haired look, but on Draco, it wasn't quite fetching. Draco stiffly turned his head towards the Gryffindor who was grinning like a mad-man. Draco raised his wand, and at that point, Hermione's eyes grew wide as dinner plates.

"Glamphora imagera!" Draco whispered harshly, doing the same wrist movement as the girl did before, and it was towards her hair this time.

Hermione's hair, which was slightly waved instead of a bush of curls, started to become straighter, but the most shocking thing about it was that her hair was turning blonde. And so it began, they were charming each other to look like one other to their opposite genders. Even the other students, who were busy playing around, stopped what they were doing to watch what the Slytherin and the Gryffindor were doing. In the end, Draco ended up having brown shaggy hair; warm brown eyes to replace for his silver ones, his skin tone become noticeably tanner than his usual paleness. His face filled out, instead of his narrow face with high cheekbones, but for the final touches, his clothes were from Muggle stores. Hermione ended up with long, straight, blonde hair that shorten into near shoulder length hair, had silvery grayish eyes, her freckles were gone, and while Draco's face filled out, her's became narrow and she had high cheekbones. Just as Draco had worn today, she was decked out in designer wear. The Slytherin grimaced when he looked down at what he was wearing, but jumped up when he looked in a nearby mirror. He started to touch his face, hopeful that maybe the reflection was deceiving him, too bad that it wasn't. It was when the guys started whistling towards Hermione, the Slytherin purposefully gave the Gryffindor a short skirt so she would feel uncomfortable, and it worked. Although the guys in the classroom didn't really mind, Hermione started to blush brightly; you could say she had a more model look in her now.

Draco shot a glare at Hermione, but soon smirked when he saw that Hermione wasn't really having fun. He soon realized that his usual trademark smirk turned into a smile, with his facial formation that he had right now, it wasn't possible for him to smirk. Nearly all of the girls noticed this and started to swoon over him more than usual, Draco took this advantage, and smiled wider. He glanced at one Gryffindor girl and winked slightly, and the girl started to blush madly while her friends were asking her what was the matter when they clearly knew that Draco winked at her.

(A/n: Sorry, but I just wanted to clear this up, because you know you possibly can't imagine Draco as a brunette or Hermione as a blonde. Draco is sort of looking like Jared Padelecki, while Hermione looks like ... Sarah Michelle Gellar? But they don't exactly identical, oh well, just know that they look almost like them. Hehe... I would've made Draco look like Orlando Bloom, but that didn't exactly suit him.)

The Gryffindor girl walked towards the now brunette Slytherin while receiving catcalls, "Malfoy, turn me back, RIGHT NOW!"

Draco gave her a questioning look, "And why would I do that?"

"Because I'm feeling uncomfortable and ... wait, I could just use my wand," Hermione started to ask Malfoy, but told herself out loud that she could just reverse the spell.

"You obviously enjoy how you look like, but _I_ don't," Hermione muttered while trying to change her appearance to the way she was.

"Oh no you don't," Draco said while walking up to Hermione, trying to grab her wand from her.

"Oh, I think so."

Harry watched his girlfriend and another guy rather close to each other, uncomfortably. Blaise noticed this, and took immediate action to tell him about Draco and his 'feelings' towards Hermione.

"Hey, Potter," Blaise started out to grab the attention of the green-eyed boy.

Harry didn't answer, but Blaise went on anyway.

"You know, I have a feeling Drake has something for Granger. You should see how he looks at her, but the funny thing is that he tries to hurt her mentally and now in the morning, physically. Wonder why, I guess he's just trying to release his anger because of what happened between you and Granger. He wasn't a happy person right after he found out that you two were a couple," Blaise kept making Harry incredibly angry.

"Granger, come on, you've got to admit that you like that guys are noticing you a lot more."

"I bloody look like a female version of _you_!"

"My point precisely, but I've got to admit, I like this look on me," Draco smiled.

Hermione rolled her silver eyes at the brown haired boy, and then sighed, "Just turn me back to the way I looked like."

"Giving up so easily, Granger?"

"Malfoy, what is wrong with you? At first you're angry with me, but now you're being... different. Are you bipolar by any chance!" Hermione suddenly yelled out, not many students heard it, but Draco definately did.

The Slytherin froze, he was acting a little too friendly to her, and she noticed, this wasn't good at all.

"Well? Explain yourself!" Hermione ordered the Slytherin.

"You want me to explain myself?" Draco asked, while walking closer to Hermione.

Hermione gulped while backing up into the cold wall, Draco was getting awfully close to her.

"Wha-what are you doing!" Hermione stuttered while she finally reached the stone wall.

"What do you think I'm doing, I'm trying to explain myself," Draco told her.

"Yeah, but why this close."

"Is it hard for you to be this close to me?" Draco asked.

Hermione was nearly screaming, "Yes, of _course_ it's bothering me that you're this close to me! I have a boyfriend, Malfoy, a B-O-Y-F-R-I-E-N-D! And he's watching what we're doing right now, so if yo-"

She was interrupted by Draco's lips crashing into hers, Hermione first fought against him, but when Draco slipped his arms around her waist firmly, she stopped what she was doing. Her thoughts of worrying that Harry was watching, getting caught by the professor who was busy in his office, and knowing that all the students in the classroom stopped what they were doing to watch them vanished. The only thought that stayed throughout in her mind was, 'His lips are so soft...', While the rest of the class were silent, Professor Flitwick came out of his office to see why everyone was quiet, but stopped to look at what the two Head's were doing. Even Blake Richmond was shocked, but soon waved it away, he reckoned that Draco and Hermione were together in secret and they were just showing everyone that they were together now. Hermione was pulled away from the kiss she shared with Draco a moment ago, by someone. Unfortunately, that someone was her glowering boyfriend, Harry.

* * *

A/n: If there are any mistakes in there, sorry, my mouse went crazy, more likemy computer became crazy and I think it missed some errors on Word. Uh oh... :( But otherwise, how was this chapter? I think this one was better than #8... waaaaayyy better.

REVIWERS:

**rowlinghermione** - Yeah, well, in this chapter, you could say that she wanted him to explain to her face why he was acting like this. But good news! I'm definately out of writers block. :) That's really good, ideas are sort of floating around everywhere.  
**rizahawkeye21 **- don't worry, I was like.. damn this chapter sucks...  
**call me brit** - why thank you, I'm glad you love my story. I've never thought of Ron and Hermione being together, so I just like Hermione and Draco, yup it's risky, but they love each other in the end :) Oh, and the other Draco ship I hate is gay ones with harry.. bleh.. and with Ginny. I swear.. I hate the Weasely's except for Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, Molly, and Arthur. The others... I HATE!  
**kakashisninjadogs** - intresting review.. :) Yeah, Harry is mad at Hermione now, which all goes with the plan for Draco.. mwah hahahahahahah. Don't worry, Hermione will eventually go with Draco, and Blake, well... he'll be more prissy later in next chapter so just hang on! Harry, yeah he's like her brother, but it wouldn't really be interesting if there wasn't rivalry. Um.. you mean pervertive as perversive? You want Blake to be a pervert? Sure, why not, that'll be interesting. Well, he isn't really getting in the way now.. I'm not so sure if I want him as an important character now.  
**fell for the stupid love so...** - thank you :)  
**dracoshott **- oh that's pretty cool, the first eigth grader that I've ever met on fanfiction. Yeahh... I met someone new that's in the same grade as me! Sure, I'll check out your fic sometime. Thanks for your review:)

Thanks for the reveiws!

xXx33 susie


	11. Chapter 10

DISCLAIMER! I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE HARRY POTTER CHARACTERS... sadly. :(

I think I'm going to dedicate this chapter to **Captain Cheese** because she reviewed on every single chapter just to get me to update:)

* * *

Chapter 10

Hermione was practically dragged away from Draco by her raging boyfriend.

"Harry, I-" the Gryffindor started but was soon interrupted by the raven-haired boy.

"No," Harry sternly replied while standing very close near the door.

Professor Flitwick and the class watched silently and sat still like stone just to see what would happen to Hermione.

"No, Hermione, I'm not taking any of that shit anymore. At first I believed you, but now what I just saw, I don't know what to believe. How do I know if you and Malfoy are doing something at night at your Common Room? How am I supposed to know if you're just using me!" Harry started to ask hysterically at the teary eyed girl.

Even though Draco knew that if he stood up for Granger, more rumors would start to fly around after the whole kissing scene, but he couldn't stand that she was getting blamed for something that she didn't mean to do.

"Potter," Draco sternly said, "Just so you know, she had nothing to do with this whole... scene. You really shouldn't be jumping to conclusions on your girlfriend like that."

Harry narrowed his eyes dangerously then practically yelled, "I can handle this myself."

Hermione walked slowly towards Harry, placing a gentle hand on his arm, "Harry... he's just a friend, nothing more. Please, just believe me."

"You know what Hermione; I really don't think I give a damn about anything any more. You know what? I don't really think I give a damn about 'us' anymore either. We're through," Harry viciously told the girl through clenched teeth.

It would seem that the relationship that they had between the two of them didn't exist anymore. They broke up, and it would be very hard for them to gain their friendship back later.

The girls that were listening, which included Lavender and Parvarti, gasped. Everyone who knew Harry throughout fifth year knew that he was very temperamental, but now that he thought Hermione was cheating on him would make him ferocious.

Soon enough, the tears that were welling up inside Hermione's eyes began to fall down rapidly. Draco wanted to put a comforting arm around her, but he still remembered that whatever he did to help out Hermione, would _really_ ruin his reputation at Hogwarts as a Muggle-born hater.

Harry didn't even look at Hermione; he just glared at the ground, clenching his fists tight. He raised one of his hands near Hermione, to just tell her that he got out of hand, but Draco stepped in.

_'Screw my rep.' _

"Potter, I don't think so," Draco coldly told the boy while stepping in front of Hermione.

The Slytherin had thought that Harry was going to hit Hermione, he couldn't stand another person get hit because of him. He had too many experiences in his past to know what it felt like to have his mum being punished in front of his eyes because she accidentally let him go into the forbidden wing because she wanted him to go get his father. And he knew that the guilt inside his conscience would make him insane.

Professor Flitwick wanted to help his students out, but he couldn't really manage too, he was only three feet shorter then the rest of his students. He rushed to his office, to write a quick letter to the Headmaster, to tell him what was going on right now, and then sent it off with his owl. Flitwick didn't know, though, that the Headmaster was already on his way, carrying burdenful news. The short Professor immediately rushed back out to see if his students were causing any damage towards one another. Thankfully, they weren't causing physical damages, but there definately were some internal ones.

"Ma-Malfoy, don't," Hermione weakly whispered to the former blonde.

That made Harry even angrier than he was right now. How dare his ... girlfriend take side with his rival, his enemy? Hermione and Draco were never good friends; it showed this morning when they had their little duel.

"Why the hell are you standing up for that twit!" Harry yelled at Hermione once more.

Ron was standing by, he didn't know what to do, but he soon realized that it was going to get out of hand really soon.

"H-hic-Harry, I to-hic-ld you that we're fri-hic-ends," Hermione managed to get out.

"Yeah, friends with Malfoy my arse. You two _never_ got along, even this morning you were in a stupid duel with him over something so simple. Hermione, have you forgotten that Malfoy teased you mercilessly about you being Muggle-born? How can you forgot all those six long years of taunting and hurting and just stand up for someone who you don't even like. And me, I've been your best friend since first year, and you're going against me, to go be with him?" Harry kept yelling at the quivering Hermione.

The red-head finally walked up to Harry, and placed a stern grip on his shoulder.

"Harry, mate, you're going a bit too far. Just calm down-" Ron tried to cool down his friend.

"NO, don't tell me to calm down right now; did any of your girlfriends EVER kiss a guy in front of your face? I don't think so."

The Slytherin bent down to whisper in Hermione's ear, "Shh, it's going to be okay, I promise I won't let him hurt you."

There was a loud resounding boom of thunder heard in the distance, rain was about to fall down.

Harry stopped yelling at Hermione, but instead he glared at her and Malfoy. He watched Draco carefully placing a strand of hair behind her ear, while Hermione was sniffling. She didn't even flinch when he touched her; it was as if she _did_ forget about all the long years of taunting.

Harry was about to walk up to Hermione, but Ron held him back, shaking his head from side to side. The boy wanted to shake his friend off and go to Hermione and talk some sense into her, but the other side of him realized that he had gone way to far already.

Everything was interrupted when the Headmaster opened the doors of the classroom, his eyes carrying burden along with him.

"Miss Granger, if you would please step outside," Dumbledore told his student, but wouldn't look at her in the eye.

Hermione sniffled and nodded her head; she walked outside without a glancing behind her. Harry, about to go along with Hermione, was stopped once more by Ron.

"Harry, I don't think so," Ron gravely told his friend.

Draco watched Hermione's back walk out of the classroom, then the Headmaster followed Hermione and closed the door. Draco returned to his seat, his face in his hands, thinking of what he had just done. Harry and Ron went back to where they were standing earlier with their partners.

The Gryffindor slowly wiped away her stray tears from her face, while the Headmaster of Hogwarts had a look of bereavement. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and told her news that she wouldn't have expected.

"Miss Granger, I know this news will come as a shock, but please, you must listen to me carefully," Professor Dumbledore started out.

He waited for Hermione to listen to him with full attention, although he didn't really want to say it to her, he finished, "Miss Granger, I am sorry to say this at this time, but you're parents were found murdered early this morning. Your neighbors heard a scream from your house before, and walked in to see if anything was wrong, they found you're parents. I believe their names are-"

"-The McKinnon's..." Hermione finished his sentence remembering the newlywed Irish couple that moved to their neighborhood a few months ago.

Slow tears started to form once more in her eyes, her parents... they were gone?

The Headmaster looked at his student who had tears flowing freely, "They were found with a note etched into their skins. It said, ' You're next. 'The Order believes that it was the work of a death eater. Yes, they were either placed in Azkaban or casted with those Oblivious Charms, but I'm afraid there seems to be one who didn't meet the same fate that his fellow members had. But meanwhile, you will be kept under close watch for precaution, I-" Professor Dumbledore was interrupted by a loud yell. Hermione seemed to have registered the new information that she had just received and now she had a reaction towards it.

"NO! I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!" Hermione yelled at her Headmaster with tears flowing down more fiercely.

As soon as she yelled out, she ran off into the hallways. Hermione needed to get out somewhere, anywhere from Dumbledore and the truth. The Headmaster sighed wearily as he watched the young woman run off into the hallways.

_While Professor Dumbledore was talking, this is what the classroom inside was like. As you know that Draco sat back in his seat, while Harry and Ron partnered back up with their former partners._

The rest of the classes were still in shock with what had just happened. Professor Flitwick coughed, then told the class to get back to what they were doing, but asked Draco if he could come up to his desk. Draco nodded once then got up and walked towards his Professor's front desk.

_At this point in time outside, Dumbledore is telling about how her parents were found with the note on their skin._

"Mister Malfoy, I thank you that you stood up and helped Miss Granger out earlier. It was very noble of you to do so," the Professor told the boy, then with a flick of his wand, changed Draco back to his former appearance.

The Slytherin looked down, but nodded once more then walked back to his desk, but stopped where Hermione's books lay. Something caught his eye; he took a few steps back to notice that it was a book with golden edged pages. He bent down and looked if Flitwick was watching or not, he wasn't, he grabbed the book and carried it back to his desk. He looked at the title of the book, which was inscribed in gold in the brown leather, _Jane Eyre_. He raised one questioning eyebrow, the Slytherin never in his life had heard of this book. It looked plain in the outside, but then told himself to not judge a book by its cover. He flipped open the cover, skipped the introduction and started to read a part of Chapter One.

_'Chapter One_

_There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further outdoor exercise was now out of the question. _

_I was glad of it; I never liked long walks, especially on chilly afternoons: dreadful to me was the coming home in the raw twilight, with nipped fingers and toes, and a heart saddened by the chidings of Bessie, the nurse, and humbled by the consciousness of my physical inferiority to Eliza, John, and Georgiana Reed. _

_The said Eliza, John, and Georgiana were now clu-' _

Draco was interrupted from his reading, by hearing a loud yell of 'NO! I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!'

He immediately sat up from his desk and looked at Harry, to see what he would do. Harry was also glancing at Draco, before he ran towards the door. The Slytherin, being taller than the Gryffindor got there first.

"Where did she go?" Draco hurriedly asked Dumbledore.

His long finger pointed to the direction of the entrance of the Hogwarts Grounds, as soon as he had pointed in the direction, Draco ran off.

_'What the hell is she thinking, it's bloody raining outside.' _

**Why are you even chasing her? **

_'I-... I think like her.' _

Draco turned towards a corner and quickly ran towards the entrance. He noticed that the door was now closing slowly; Hermione was there just a few seconds ago. Draco kept on running until he was hit by cold pellets of water falling from the dark sky. The rain hit him like a Cruciatous Curse would have done, it seemed as if a thousand daggers were stabbing him repeatedly.

_'Great...'_

The blonde tried to see in the rain while holding a hand above his eyes to shield his face from the blowing wind and rain. He noticed something nearby the lake, he immediately ran towards it once more. His legs were slowly losing strength and his face was stinging from getting hit by the rain, but he kept on going. When he reached the lake, he noticed Hermione's figure wading slowly into the lake.

"HERMIONE! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" Draco screamed out, not noticing that he had used her first name.

The Gryffindor didn't answer; instead she was getting deeper into the lake.

"Damnit Granger. You're going to first make me chase you out in the rain, and now you're bloody going to make me jump into the lake," Draco muttered to himself.

He kicked off his shoes and took of his robes and flung it at a nearby tree, it would be harder to swim with that heavy thing under water. Draco swam towards Hermione quickly, pulling her arm back to face him.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Hermione yelled to his face, tears no longer shown on her face because of the rain and water.

"Granger, I don't know what happened, but drowning yourself won't do any good!"

"WHY!" Hermione yelled hysterically, "My parents are dead, so why can't I just die like them!"

Draco froze for a second, '_Who would've killed her parent, no, not Voldemort, he couldn't, he's dead._ 'His grip on her arm loosened a bit, just enough for Hermione to get away from Draco. She was now struggling on top of the water, but still inched a little bit farther.

"Oh, no you don't," Draco muttered to himself while catching Hermione, and pulling her close to his chest.

"LET ME GO!" Hermione screamed while thrashing around in the Slytherin's grasp.

"Granger, get a hold of yourself!"

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

Draco rolled his eyes and started to swim towards shore, it took a while. When they finally did reach the shore, he laid down on the wet grass in exhaustion; Hermione was still inside Draco's arms. Hermione started to hit Draco on his chest, slowly stopping and ended up crying into the Slytherin's chest, her shoulders shaking violently.

"Shh... I promise I won't let anything happen to you," Draco whispered into Hermione's ear with ragged breaths.

"Why did it have to be me! Why couldn't it be someone else!" Hermione cried miserably into his chest.

Draco didn't know what to say, he pulled her closer into him and near her ear, he said, "I'm sorry, I don't know."

Hermione slowly started to hiccup and sniffle, but the crying did stop. The Slytherin started to get up, pulling her with him, "Come on, you're going to catch a cold."

She shook her head, grabbing on to Draco tighter. He sighed, and then looked at his cloak, it wasn't really wet from the little shelter of the leaves, but it would do. Draco walked up and grabbed his shoes and cloak, Hermione immediately got up and attached herself towards the blonde once more. Draco smiled hesitantly, while draping his cloak around Hermione; at least she would be a little dry. He started to walk forward, while Hermione took an inch forward. Draco swung his head back to see Hermione looking down, he let out an exasperated sigh, then grumbled, "You better not be heavy, Granger."

He wrapped his arms around her waist, then one right behind her knees, and he picked her up. Draco walked a bit quicker, wanting to get inside the warm castle, Hermione burrowed her head into his chest once more, it was as if he was protecting from the horrible world that was around her. The storm slowly grew fiercer, causing Draco to practically run towards the castle. When they finally made it, Draco dropped Hermione not so gently but still able for her to get on her feet, and he knelt down, trying to catch his breath.

"Sorry," Hermione murmured to Draco while placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

His reaction shocked her; he reached over from his right side to his left to hold her hand. She pulled slightly, meaning for Malfoy to let go, but his grasp on her hand was held on tighter.

"Malfoy..." she weakly said as a warning.

He didn't answer, but just looked at her with warm eyes instead of cold ones. She felt uncomfortable in his gaze, especially since he was holding her hand at this moment, so she looked down and noticed that she was still the blonde model-like person that Malfoy had charmed her to look like earlier.

Hermione let out a hesitant laugh, and said, "I think I need to change back to the way I really look like."

She pulled her hand harder away from Draco, he held on tighter.

"Malfoy, that's the hand that I use my wand with, I need it right now," Hermione sternly told the boy.

Suddenly he smirked, letting go of her right hand, he immediately reached over and grabbed her left. Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes, for a minute, she almost forgot that her parents had died, _almost_. Hermione's eyes welled up in tears once more, Draco noticed almost immediately, he reached over and wiped her tear away. She muttered the counter-charm, and returned to her brunette form.

"Why are you doing this?" Hermione whispered, she still couldn't look at Draco in the eye.

"You're a smart witch, I thought you would've figured it out by now," Draco teased.

The brunette thought for a second, but was soon replaced with a scowl, she then responded, "Just so you know, I'm not much informed on guys."

Draco was shocked, he thought that either Potter or Weasely would have made a move on her already, _I guess not._

"I think you should head up to the Infirmary, you're going to catch a cold," Draco told her while leading her way towards the Hospital Wing.

Just like before, outside in the rain, Hermione stood still on the ground, Draco whipped around his head.

"What now?" Draco whined.

Hermione smiled faintly, and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek, "Thanks."

Draco brilliantly smiled causing Hermione to completely forget about her parents' death this time. They walked in silence, still holding each other's hands, until Hermione interrupted their little quiet moment.

"You know, Malfoy... I've been thinking about what happened back in the Charms room," she started.

The Slytherin reached up to loosen his tie, he knew this wasn't going to be the best conversation, but then realized he had worse.

"Er-yeah?"

"What was that all about?"

"I-I don't know?" Draco stuttered out.

"Malfoy, you know what? I think I'm going to go up there by myself," Hermione told the Slytherin while slipping her hand out of his.

Draco frowned, but Hermione smiled slightly and then ran off into the hallway. He slowly started to follow her, jogging along the way. Neither of them noticed Harry watching behind a corner of the wall, red in the face and his hand clenched in a fist.

Hermione didn't go to the Infirmary, but back to Professor Flitwick's classroom. It was the class after hers; it was a double with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Professor Flitwick told her that her bags were inside, along with Draco's. She went in and got hers quickly, she thought taking Malfoy's bags, but told herself that he could take them himself. Many of the students in the class room were whispering about how Hermione's parents were murdered, the news of what happened in her class obviously already spread throughout the whole seventh year students. It was yet to come that the whole school would find out by tomorrow that her parents were murdered. She chocked a sob, and ran out the door, she found Draco leaning against the stone wall, looking disappointed.

"And I thought you were going to the Infirmary."

"I can't! There are still the N.E.W.T.S. subjects to cover, and the Professors are supposed to tell us what to expect on the test today! I can't be behind the whole schedule, it's very complicated, and now that parents ... my parents," Hermione dropped down on the floor, her books falling on the ground with her.

The sob that was caught in her throat was released; Draco knelt down and started to rub her back.

A raven-haired boy walked in front of them, and coughed loudly. The blonde headed Slytherin looked up with a scowl on his face.

"What do you want, Potter," Draco asked in a disgusted voice.

"Something you don't need to be in a part of," Harry responded quickly.

"What concerns her right now, concerns me," Draco told him while slowly getting up.

Draco and Harry started to have a menacing staring contest, or it seemed as if they were.

Somewhere between their glowering stares, Hermione strongly told the both of them, "No."

"What Hermione?" Harry asked in a concerned voice, he seemed to forgive Hermione easily enough, but that wasn't enough for her.

"You know what Harry? Just like you said earlier, we're over. So you can just quit caring about what's happening in MY life and start caring about yours instead."

"Hermione, even if we did '_break up' I'm_ still your friend no matter what," Harry started to explain.

"I don't think so Harry, what you said to me hurt really badly, and I'm not going to be forgiving you that easily," Hermione responded while eyeing him with a scowl appearing on her face.

"Her-"

"NO, on top of you AND my parents death, I'm just going to explode! So just leave me alone!" Hermione cut off Harry, then storming off to her next class.

While walking to her very late Transfiguration class, Hermione wiped away one of her stray tears that fell down her cheeks.

_'I don't bloody care if he wants to get back together or not. He can't even trust me, so what's the point in even having a relationship with him, anyways.'_

Hermione finally arrived to her Transfiguration class, although Professor McGonagall ushered her inside quickly, the professor told her that she didn't really have to go to all of her classes today. The Gryffindor insisted that she didn't want to be caught behind in all the school work, Professor McGonagall had no choice but to allow her to stay. But before Minerva went back to her teaching, she asked Hermione, "I suppose you haven't seen Mr. Malfoy or Mr. Potter, have you?"

The brunette responded, "They should be somewhere in the hallway near Professor Flitwick's room. Malfoy was helping me out, but I don't know what Harry was doing."

The Gryffindor class gaped at her; did they just hear what they just thought they heard? Hermione Granger was actually taking Draco Malfoy's side and leaving Harry to defend for himself.

Professor McGonagall lowered her glasses and looked at her sympathetically, "Although I'm sure you must have heard many times, but I am truly sorry, Miss Granger, about your parents. Are you sure you don't need a few days rest to get your mind together?"

Hermione stubbornly replied, "Professor, I'm fine, I'm sure my parents would want me to ..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but one tear rolled down her cheek. Minerva, who still looked sympathetic towards her favorite student, patted her on the shoulder in a motherly way, and then went back up to the front of the classroom.

"Class, before Miss Granger came in, we were talking about how to transfigure an object into something that reflects you as a person. It may sound extremely easy, but I assure you, your thoughts must be very organized to complete this task."

The Transfiguration Professor raised her wand towards a book on a student's desk; she flicked her wand and said, "_Effor Vestri!_"

After the words were spoken out loud, the book transfigured into a cat, it leisurely lay down on top of the student's desk. That student, was Neville Longbottom, he was inching out his hand as if he wanted to touch it. Professor McGonagall told him that he could touch the cat; it wouldn't do him any harm. There were a few low laughters heard around the classroom.

"Professor McGonagall, as an Animaigus, aren't you represented at as cat, also?" Lavender asked.

"Yes, I am a cat when I change into my Animaigus form. This spell, if learned properly, can tell you what best Animaigus form you should be if you do choose to become one. Like I said before, the spell will go into your minds very quickly, but if it is there for to long, you will feel a sharp jab. Now, I will come around and give you assistance if needed."

Everyone in the classroom anticipated in what their animal would look like. The students used their textbooks, quills, ink bottles, or parchment for transfiguring to their animals. Popping sounds were heard around everywhere in the classroom. Soon enough, there were many animal callings heard around the classroom, some of the student's animals ranged from a fish to a tiger. Seamus had a monkey, Lavender, surprisingly a tigress, Ron's was a lion, and Hermione's, an eagle. Neville had a few attempts, but succeeded in the end, his quill transfigured into a dog. Most of the people, though, didn't have what they wanted as an animal, or at least anything other than theirs, take Dean for an example, his was a parrot.

Professor McGonagall made her rounds around the classroom, stopping by Neville for a brief second to assist him with the wand movement. Her next stop was Hermione Granger, the old school teacher knew that she shouldn't show favoritism, but she couldn't help it. Miss Granger was one of the best students that Hogwarts has ever seen, and she was excellent in Transfigurations.

"Miss Granger, I see you have everything right," the professor warmly said to her student.

Hermione smiled faintly, and then started to rummage through her bag. She was done, she finished copying down the notes on the board, she did her spell correctly, and now she was looking for her book. As you remember, Draco was reading the book, and left it on his desk. Hermione grew anxious and emptied the contents of her bag.

"Where is it?" Hermione whispered to herself.

There was a loud knock on the door behind her; she turned around to find Draco Malfoy breathing heavily with bruises and cuts all over his face.

"Mister Malfoy! Explain yourself instantly!" Professor McGonagall asked while rushing over to the injured boy.

Draco didn't answer her question and dodged his professor's hands; instead he walked straight over to Hermione. His eyes were only focused on hers, Hermione looked back into his eyes, and it was until he came in front of her desk that she lowered her eyes back down.

"What happened?" Hermione asked the boy gently but her gaze still towards the floor.

(The time when Hermione was in class.)

Draco watched Hermione's figure vanish into the hallways, Harry, with a scowl on his face, came up to Draco and grabbed him by the Slytherin's green and silver tie. He brought the blonde closer to his face and hissed, "What are your intentions with her, anyways."

"Same as you," Draco coolly replied.

Harry scoffed, "Don't tell me you love her."

Draco still up close into Harry's face didn't answer but challenged him with his eyes. Harry glared right back; his eyes filled with frustration but had a hint of curiosity. The Slytherin noticed, but then abruptly turned around and started to walk towards Professor Flitwick's classroom. The raven-haired boy stopped the boy by grabbing Draco roughly on the shoulder and spinning him around.

"You aren't going anywhere right now. We're going to settle this, Hermione doesn't need any more stress right now," Harry snarled.

Draco laughed quietly, and then replied while brushing off Harry's hand roughly, "I cannot believe you just said that."

The Gryffindor first had a questioning look on his face, Draco noticed and laughed again.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Harry nearly shouted.

"You really want me to tell you? Fine. You're the lousiest EX-boyfriend that I have ever met, she told you that we were just friends, but you just think of the worst and accuse her of cheating on you. You think she _wanted_ to snog with a guy she's known as her enemy for nearly six years? I severely doubt that. But you, you're almost as thicker than Crabbe and Goyle put together! Oh, and one more thing," Draco growled.

The blonde's fist flew in the air and hit Harry's nose, causing a loud sickening sound to fill in the hallway around them. Harry bent over, his hand grabbing his nose tightly.

"God damnit!" Harry swore under his breath.

His nose was obviously broken, but this was a new experience for Harry. Although he's broken his arms, legs, or ribs, he has never broken his nose before. Now he can add this even to his mental list, 'Draco Malfoy, my most hated enemy, broke my nose after explaining to me why I'm such a lousy boyfriend to Mia.'

Draco turned around once more and started to reach over to the Charm's door. The same thing repeated once more, Harry grabbed the blonde's shoulder, but this time with an entirely different approach.

Draco sighed, "Potter, didn't we already go over this already?"

The Slytherin slowly turned around to be met with a fist slamming into his cheek. He stumbled back, nearly falling over, but regained his balance soon. Draco cursed loudly, but then ran over to Harry, tackling him to the ground. Fists were flying everywhere with loud sickening cracks filled the air around them.

"Who are you punch to say that punch I'm a lousy boyfriend, punch, smack when you've never had a constant punch relationship in your LIFE!" Harry asked while obviously on top of the Slytherin.

Draco rolled out underneath Harry, slowly trying to get up from the ground.

"For Merlin's sake, didn't you hear Granger? You're not her boyfriend anymore and do you think I fucking care if I haven't had a long term relationship in the past years?" Draco responded while kicking Harry in the stomach.

The two boys looked like a mess, Draco sported a black eye, a cut on his lip which was bleeding slowly, scrapes on his cheeks and neck, and some of his knuckles cracked. While Harry had a broken nose which was bleeding profusely, he too many scrapes on his face and neck and his knuckles were cracked also.

Draco left Harry, who was curled up into a ball from being hit in the stomach too much, and without bothering to grab his bags in Flitwick's class; he walked towards the Transfiguration Room. He limped and every single part of his body hurt like hell, but he kept on going. When the Slytherin finally reached the Transfiguration Room, he raised his right hand wearily, and clenched it up in a fist. He then hit once on the door of the classroom, Professor McGonagall soon opening it.

"Mister Malfoy! Explain yourself instantly!" she asked while reaching down to steer him towards her office.

Instead, Draco dodged the arm of his teacher, and looked around the room until he found the person who he wanted to look for.  
_  
'Hermione...'_ the blonde thought inside of his head.

The both of them looked at each other, not even glaring, but more like Draco had a tired and weary look in his eyes, while Hermione had fear and curiosity in her eyes. It was until he finally stood in front of her desk that she lowered her eyes down to the floor. He so wanted to lift her face up to look at him, but scolded himself that she wouldn't think of him more than a friend, he hardly even knew if they were even _friends_ to begin with.

"What happened?" Hermione gently asked her gaze still on the floor.

"Look at me," Draco whispered in a low and husky voice.

Hermione resisted although she did want to see the Slytherin's face, she just couldn't bring herself to. Instead she looked up, but averted her eyes to somewhere else besides where Draco was standing.

"Please...?" the Slytherin asked in the same low voice, but with a hint of sadness.

_Why won't she look at me? Is she ashamed! _

"You didn't answer my question, Malfoy. What happened to you," Hermione reminded the boy.

Draco looked down and muttered, "Potter and I got in a fight."

That definately made Hermione to snap her head towards the blonde.

"You WHAT!" Hermione yelled out, causing everyone in the classroom to look at them. Not that they weren't looking in the first place, but it definately caused other students who weren't looking to be curious and look now.

Dozens of thoughts flitted across Hermione's mind, the major one, of course, was her parent's death, Hermione was in denial. She couldn't stop it either; the Gryffindor told herself that she didn't even see them in their... murdered form. So how could she finally come to her senses about her parents' death? The second major thought, Draco Malfoy actually went after her when she was planning to drown herself. The third, Harry wasn't her boyfriend anymore, so why the hell is he following her around everywhere! She even thought about how he came to her right after Dumbledore told her the grave news.

_'Must have heard through the door.._.Hermione thought to herself, she then rolled her eyes.

The Slytherin looked up from the ground to find Hermione rolling her eyes. He looked around if she was specifically rolling her eyes at him, or the whole damn classroom who was watching their every bloody move.

Draco coughed, and then muttered, "You know, I thought you Gryffindors were brave. So why can't you even look at a Slytherin?"

The brunette finally came back from her thoughts. She was first appalled when he considered her like a group of Gryffindors, but noticed the smile that was very badly concealed on his face. She smiled faintly, and then got up from her chair.

The transfigured animals were still making their animal calls, but the students on the other hand, were as silent as a grave. Although, their eyes were still focused on the pair.

Professor McGonagall didn't know what to do, she had to get Mister Malfoy to the Infirmary, but it seemed as if he was preoccupied. But then Miss Granger is very emotionally damaged from the news that she had heard from Headmaster Dumbledore about her parents, and it seems as if she slightly takes comfort in the boy's presence. The professor sighed, and then muttered something that consisted of 'young adults and their hormones'.

Hermione went around her desk to look at the boy's face, when she told herself that he was hardly that first year boy that she remembered in her mind, but now, more like a full-grown man. She turned back to her desk, grabbed her wand and transfigured some of her extra parchments into a towel and a bowl of water. The Gryffindor quickly had one towel in her hand and started to wet it slightly. Hermione soon looked up, and soon glared at all the students who were looking at them.

"Go take a picture, it'll last longer," Hermione clear voice told her fellow classmates.

Many of the girls and the guys went back to talk to their friends, but a few still gazed at them. Hermione had a vicious look on her face that made the rest of the class to go back to their business. When finally everyone went back to their business, the brunette cautiously reached up towards the blonde's face. Although she soon froze when she noticed that the Slytherin had an amused grin on his face.

"What?" she asked, her other hand reaching up to her face.

Draco chuckled, then lightly grabbed Hermione's hand and said, "Nothing."

The girl frowned, but asked, "Do you mind?"

He shook his head, but his smile was still apparent on his face. Hermione didn't know that he thought it was amusing that she made everyone to mind their own business when she was just going to clean him up, but also that Hermione was taking care of him.

The Gryffindor gently placed her other hand on one side of the Slytherin's face, and dabbed at his face, attempting to clean him up. Draco didn't tell her what had happened and that just made her even more curious.

While she was in the process of cleaning a scrape on his neck, she asked, "Well, you could tell me what happened with Harry."

Draco body grew rigid for a second, Hermione noticed. He had hoped that she wouldn't ask that question, but seriously, who wouldn't by the way he looked right now.

"I told him that he was a lousy boyfriend, and that you deserved better," Draco gave her the gist of what had happened, editing out the more non-important things that she didn't need to hear right this instant, but maybe later.

Hermione gave him a disapproving look, but then admitted, "Yeah... I guess you could say he was a lousy boyfriend. Especially when he thought I was cheating on him with out of all the people _you_!"

"Ouch, that hurt," Draco playfully added.

Hermione smiled but then was soon replaced with a frown, "Wait, then why did you two get in a fist fight? Not over me, I hope."

"You are too conceited in that smart brain of yours," Draco scolded playfully while tapping her forehead with his fingers.

"No, really Malfoy, did you two fight about me? I'm not really all that special you know," Hermione tried to pry the information out of the Slytherin.

"Fine. Okay, so we did fight, but-" he was interrupted by Hermione.

"Who threw the first hit!" Hermione asked with an edge of hysteria in her voice.

"_Anyways_..." Draco tried to changing the subject.

"Who threw the first hit, Malfoy!" she repeated.

"Do you really need to know?" he asked.

"What do you think," Hermione sarcastically asked.

"Well... I think you shouldn't give a damn about who threw the first hit."

"Malfoy!"

"Granger."

"Tell me now."

"Fine."

"Well then..."

"It was me," he finally told her and then looked away.

"Are you serious?" Hermione asked for finality.

"Yeah, he was ticking me off, so I hit him," he answered in a normal voice.

"He was ticking you off!" Hermione's voice rose higher.

"Yeah."

"You are...-"

"Handsome? Smart? Undeniably sexy?" Draco filled in.

"No, stupid!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Not the answer I was exactly looking for, but thanks," Draco responded then gave her a mock bow which just infuriated her even more.

"That was completely pointless!" Hermione sighed.

"Are you done?" Draco suddenly asked.

"What?"

"Are you done with what you're doing?" he repeated while his hand gestured towards the towels and the water-filled bowl.

"Oh, right, but yeah, I'm done."

Draco smiled dangerously, "Then I hope you don't mind me doing this."

"Wha- PUT ME DOWN!" Hermione yelled out.

That triggered everyone's head to look towards the two. The girls 'awed' while the guys were partially freaked out that a Slytherin was touching a Gryffindor and the other side of them thought back to the whole 'kiss scene' that the two of them had in Charms.

"Put me down!" Hermione demanded while struggling against Draco's arms that were tightly wrapped around her waist and underneath her knees, also known for appearing in weddings when the groom picks up the bride.

"How much do you weigh? You're practically killing me," Draco teased.

"Then put me down," she demanded, but her face gave away her thoughts, she was bright red.

It wasn't that she was heavy or anything, but just the fact that he mentioned about her weight made her embarrassed. It's not like every girl isn't uncomfortable about how much they weigh, that is, unless they look like Parvarti or Lavender.

Draco noticed how shocked and embarrassed she looked, so he comforted her saying, "I was just kidding, really, you're not heavy."

The Gryffindor tried to pry herself off of the blonde's grasp and then replied, "Like I said before Malfoy, put me down. I can walk by myself you know, and you're leg's hurt. Extra weight while you're walking isn't going to help."

"I know," he smartly replied.

"Well then, put me down. _Now_," Hermione sternly demanded.

Draco shook his head, "Pick your bags up."

She looked questioningly at him, but did what she was told. Hermione leaned back and tried to gather what she had on her desk inside her bag. When she finally achieved this task, she placed it on her stomach.

Hermione then looked up at Draco expectantly, "What now."

Draco didn't reply, but started to walk towards the back of the classroom, which Professor McGonagall was safely guarding the door.

"Professor, I'm going to have to bring Granger here back to our Common Room, and I need to go to the Infirmary. You wouldn't mind, would you?" he asked and added that with a brilliant smile.

The professor tutted, but moved aside so that the two could get past her. While the two walked past their professor she told them, "Mister Malfoy, take care of Miss Granger."

Hermione heard and had a shocked look on her face, how in Merlin's name would Draco _Malfoy_ help her! Yeah, okay, so he did save her from drowning herself, and possibly standing up for her, but who knows why he did that. Helping her wouldn't exactly qualify him as a mean, cold-hearted, mudblood hater anymore.

_'Why does he even care about me? It's not like we've been friends or anything.' _she thought to herself.

Draco nodded and left the classroom, he started to walk towards their Common Room. It was silent; neither of them talking to one another, the only sounds that were heard was Draco's feet hitting the stone floor and the rain that was beating against the windows. Hermione sighed loudly, she didn't really want to be here at this moment, scratch that, and she didn't want to be alive for that matter. This was her final year, and if her parents died, then where is she going to stay? She knew that she would have to leave sooner or later, but her parents were her backbone of her life. The though of her parents not being there for her was a bit scary, she wouldn't be able to see them anymore. Hermione knew she should be mourning, but she just couldn't admit that her parents were dead. But right now, in his arms, it seemed as if the world around her was gone, and Draco and she were the only people. The Gryffindor also knew that she shouldn't be thinking that way, but she couldn't help it.

The Slytherin finally stopped in front of their painting that would lead them into their rooms.

"Helios," Draco muttered.

Before the painting swung open, the Moon told the two that two boys were looking for Draco.

"We know," both of them simultaneously answered.

The painting swung open, Hermione still in Draco's arms, rolled her eyes and asked with an exasperated sigh, "When are you going to put me down!"

"You'll see," Draco added with a smirk.

The Gryffindor rolled her eyes once more, but returned to her original position. She noticed before that wrapping an arm around Draco's neck would be a little bit more comfortable then just crossing her arms. It also seemed to help him carry her, although he really didn't have to, but him being stubborn, kept on going.

Draco walked in front of the green couch, the girl's face twisted in disgust.

"Hey!" Draco warned the Gryffindor.

"You know, I can walk to my bedroom," Hermione told the blonde.

"Oh you're not going back to your bedroom," he replied in a matter-in-fact voice while plopping down on the couch, bringing Hermione down with him.

"And why _not_?" Hermione squeaked.

"Because, _you_ just had something horrible happen to you and you aren't... reacting the way that I thought you would've. Well, besides the fact that you nearly killed yourself," Draco responded.

Hermione untangled herself from the Slytherin's arms and got up; Draco reached out and immediately grabbed her wrist. She looked down at it, but then looked up again.

"Malfoy, Draco, I don't know what's going on right now. Everything in my world is just ... messed up. First, you are completely bi-polar on me, especially when one night we got along perfectly, but then the next morning you're the psycho bastard that I've always known you to be. Second, Harry and I broke up because he thought that I cheated him, and out of all the guys in school he had to pick you because of that bloody kiss in Charms. And standing up for me or whatever, didn't exactly help either. And third is just the worst and I'm not even sure if I can believe it, my parents were murdered. And you know the stupid thing about this all is that all three of those things happened today," Hermione shouted out.

_'I've got to hand it to her; she can still be sane under all this pressure.'_ Draco thought.

The blonde had a few creases in his forehead, "That's exactly the reason why we need to talk."

"Why should I be bloody talking about MY PROBLEMS to _you_! You don't even know me!" Hermione screamed, and she then pushed away Draco's hand on her wrist. When he finally removed his fingers from her wrist, she ran up to her bedroom. He could hear the loud stomping of her feet; Draco sighed and leaned back into the couch. It was only a few seconds when he heard Hermione's loud piercing scream that resounded everywhere around the room.

* * *

So, readers... how was that for a chapter! Yeah, I know, you're probably thinking of what might have happened to Hermione for her to be screaming like that. Well, you'll just have to wait until next chapter! Oh by the way, I was very very very very etc.. happy with all of the reviews that I received:) More new reviewers, but now, my older ones aren't reviewing as much... but that's okay :)

I guess I'll try and clear this up if some of you don't get it. So, Hermione heard that her parents were murdered by this person, supposedly a death eater. And she went and tried to drown herself because she wasn't exactly sure what to believe, but Draco tried to talk some sense into her. Although at the same time, he's starting to develp feelings for her when he doesn't exactly want to. After all that drama, Hermione goes up to her room to find something she wasn't going to forget.. ever. There, did that clear it up somehow?

REViEWS:

**Seldom Darlin **- Thanks, I think chapter nine was the best chapter also, I'm not so sure about this one. I know that Hermione isn't displaying much emotion right now, she's just really shocked, ... or I hope it seemed as if she was shocked.

**heather2006** - OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH! THANKS FOR THE REVIEW! Sorry, I couldn't help it, but the oh my gosh thing was pretty funny :) And why thank you for  
thinking that this is one of the best you've read. Much love goes to you!  
**  
dracoshott28 **- well now, you had a boyfriend but a guy kissed you anyways.. hm... drama dramaaa! but wow, your boyfriend and you are still together? Well, I hope your relationship doesn't spiral down just as Hermione and Harry's had. Sorry for not updating all that quick!  
**  
rizahawkeye21** - you know, I just noticed, well not really, but yeah the 21 part of your username reminds me of my cousin. She was born on the 21st of July so she'd put 21 on her aim s/ns of anything. ANYWAYS, thank you, I think I did an all rigth job if I think so myself. Did this chapter answer your question about Harry and Draco? Not Hermione and Draco.. I guess. Harry and Hermione are kersplat, zip, nada... you get the picture. Hope this chatper was interesting enough :)  
**  
call me brit **- yessss! ron and ginny are just... ew.  
**  
The Future Mrs. Thomas Andr... **- my bad.. the thing won't show me your whole username... :( but otherwise, thanks for the encouragement!  
**  
Captain Cheese** - wow.. what to say to you.. hm... Lmao, you gave me a lot of reviews, like for almost all of my chapters! I am very very grateful that you like my story :) HBP was horrible, it was like a bad fanfic.. no offense to JK but she made Draco and Harry sound gay, and Ron and Ginny ... ew. I'm not even going to talk about it. I love Draco too... and Tom Felton, and Jared Padelecki, Tom Welling, Orlando Bloom... you get what I'm saying? lol. I know, I wish that I had the three hottest guys in the school to go after me. hehehe, a girl can dream right? Not that I'm ugly or anything, but... yeah, whatever. haha. btw, unconcerned is the right way to spell it ;)  
**  
cuteclaws** - thank you! I hope you liked this chapter! It took me a while to finish it, it just ended up going on and on and on, until this stopping point. heh  
**  
Harleyschick101** - That's very kind of you to say that it's getting better nad better. I updated:)  
**  
i take people's whits** - sorry, but don't throw things at me for this! ducks  
**  
outkasthpfanatic - **thanks, wow.. your little fOnT thing was making my head hurt for awhile. haha.. I'm more into like.. hEY wHAt'S uP? Like that.. lmao.  
**  
givemeurcash** - thank you for the review!  
**  
kakashisninjadogs** - interesting... lol. I love your little dialouge is that how you spell it? with Harry. I find it very funny :) Just for that I shall give you aone of kind Draco and Hermione holding hands plushie doll:) Should I change Dean's question to Blake who says it? So he could be a little perv that you want him to be?  
**  
P.SuedoFiction** - thanks, but I think I'm going for a new approach in this chapter. Can you tell? I didn't put _that _many author notes in here, did I?But yeah, anyways, I'll try and not to put any more a/n's anymore during the story.

Okay! So, I will see you next chapter! BYE! I hope you liked it!

xXx33 Susie


	12. Chapter 11

I'm sorry it took so late!

* * *

Chapter 11

Hermione walked fiercely in the hallway, when she reached in front of her room, she grabbed the door knob and jerked the door open. The first steps into the room, Hermione looked down at the floor, too tired and stressed from all what had happened today. But when she stopped in front of her dresser, she looked up, to find pictures. Pictures of her and her parents at their vacations at Paris, the Granger's in a recent family reunion, Mr. and Mrs. Granger posing in front of a beach, and even some random pictures that she noticed of her family that were taken unwillingly, but the most disturbing one, was the picture of her parents lying in their master bedroom, murdered. She heard a scream fill the room, it was only a few seconds later that she noticed that it was hers.

Draco bounded up towards the hallway, into Hermione's room, he paused a second before walking into Hermione's room. He found Hermione staring while shaking her head at the magnified picture of her parents in their deathbeds on her mirror. The Slytherin looked around the room; he saw her bed which had a holographic like image of her parents, just like in the enlarged picture on the mirror.

The Gryffindor choked out a sob, her shoulders heaving up and down. Draco ran towards her in only two steps, he wrapped his arms around Hermione's body and started to guide her away from the mess that was caused in her room.

Hermione whimpered in Draco's chest, now she could come to realize that her parents were definately dead. She thought back to when she was in first grade, and her mum was reprimanding her for crossing the road without looking both ways.

_A little brown haired girl started to walk towards the cat that was on the other side of the open road. She took a few steps forward, looked back, and then ran across the road. The cat ran off, leaving Hermione on the side walk. A woman, with the same brown hair as the little girl's, came rushing towards her daughter. _

_"Hermione! What are you doing! Mummy told you not to cross the road without looking both ways to see if there is a car coming at you," a brown haired woman came rushing to her child. _

_The little brown-haired girl began to cry, "Mummy, I didn't mean too!" _

_"I'm sorry, Hermione. But you nearly gave me a heart attack when I saw you crossing the road! Promise me you won't do it again," the woman said while clutching her daughter tightly towards her chest. _

_"I promise ... " _

Hermione sniffled; she was still being guided by Draco somewhere. The Gryffindor thought for a moment, and then raised her head up, "... I don't want to be here right now."

Draco was startled at first, but then looked down and grimly smiled, "Sorry Granger, but I don't think you'll be able to go anywhere anymore."

"Oh..." she weakly replied.

The hallway turned, and the statue that leads to the Headmaster's room was there in front of them.

"Cockroach Clusters," Draco muttered.

The statue jumped out of the way, leading the two inside the cluttered room. Dumbledore was found sitting in his chair, in front of his desk, reading the Daily Prophet. Without looking up, he motioned for the two students to come towards him.

"Miss Granger, Mister Malfoy, is there something wrong?" the Headmaster asked, now looking up from the Prophet.

"Sir, Granger's room was trashed with her family's pictures and... well, there was a holographic image of her parents on her bed, in their - murdered form," the Slytherin tried explaining.

Just as soon as Draco finished his sentence, Dumbledore stood up from his chair. Without a word, he swiftly walked towards the entrance to his room and left. Hermione and Draco followed their Headmaster towards their common room. The silver haired man stood in between the teenagers and the room and sighed deeply, "Mister Malfoy, I suggest you keep Miss Granger from coming in? I'm sure she wouldn't want to see this again."

The Slytherin nodded and started to guide the wide-eyed Hermione away from their room. But Hermione pulled away from his grasp, she walked back in front of Dumbledore.

"I have every right to see this as much as you do," she responded.

Albus Dumbledore closed his eyes for a brief second, and then nodded. He turned around to face the painting and silently muttered the password. The painting opened up to reveal the red, gold, silver, and green adorned room. The Headmaster practically glided towards Hermione's room, before he stepped in the room, he looked back at the two students. The tall blonde was holding the brunette, comforting her and whispering things in her ear. Albus smiled faintly, how the two students looked as if they were lovers.

Draco looked up from Hermione, and noticed that Dumbledore was looking at him with a small smile. The Slytherin nodded slightly, and then told Hermione, "Hey, I'm going to go up to your room with Dumbledore. So why don't you lie down on the sofa over there, and wait till we come back down."

"Oh-okay," Hermione hesitantly replied.

She had wanted him to stay beside her right now; she needed someone to be with her.

The blonde started to walk away slowly, but when he turned his head around to glance back at her, Draco ran back. Hermione looked scared, lonely, and there was nobody to comfort her except him right now. He couldn't just leave her, but he was pretty sure that Dumbledore would probably need somebody to help with everything. It was only a matter of few seconds when he heard a rush of air pass through them from the fireplace. A tall woman stepped out of their fireplace, it was Minerva McGonagall, right after she left upstairs, Severus Snape, Remus Lupin, and Tonks arrived.

Severus, Remus and Tonks gave a questioning look towards Draco who was now holding Hermione gently towards his chest. In return, the Slytherin threw back a menacing glare. They immediately rushed upstairs to meet Albus and to see what had happened.

"Her-... Hermione, I promise I won't leave you," Draco struggled with some words.

Hermione didn't respond, but moved closer to the Slytherin's body, she buried her head into his chest and started to cry softly.

He started to sing softly in her ear, cautious at first, but his voice grew stronger slowly.

_"This Romeo is bleeding  
But you can't see his blood  
It's nothing but some feelings  
That this old dog kicked up _

It's been raining since you left me  
Now I'm drowning in the flood  
You see I've always been a fighter  
But without you I give up

Now I can't sing a love song  
Like the way it's meant to be  
Well, I guess I'm not that good anymore  
But baby, that's just me

And I will love you, baby - Always  
And I'll be there forever and a day - Always  
I'll be there till the stars don't shine  
Till the heavens burst and  
The words don't rhyme  
And I know when I die, you'll be on my mind  
And I'll love you - Always

Now your pictures that you left behind  
Are just memories of a different life  
Some that made us laugh, some that made us cry  
One that made you have to say goodbye  
What I'd give to run my fingers through your hair  
To touch your lips, to hold you near  
When you say your prayers try to understand  
I've made mistakes, I'm just a man

When he holds you close, when he pulls you near  
When he says the words you've been needing to hear  
I'll wish I was him 'cause those words are mine  
To say to you till the end of time

Yeah, I will love you baby - Always  
And I'll be there forever and a day - Always

If you told me to cry for you  
I could  
If you told me to die for you  
I would  
Take a look at my face  
There's no price I won't pay  
To say these words to you

Well, there ain't no luck  
In these loaded dice  
But baby if you give me just one more try  
We can pack up our old dreams  
And our old lives  
We'll find a place where the sun still shines

And I will love you, baby - Always  
And I'll be there forever and a day - Always  
I'll be there till the stars don't shine  
Till the heavens burst and  
The words don't rhyme  
And I know when I die, you'll be on my mind  
And I'll love you - Always"

When he finished singing softly in her ear, Hermione stopped crying and looked up at him.

"Do you mean it?" Hermione asked quietly.

Draco didn't respond, instead he leaned in close to Hermione. He slowly pushed back Hermione's tousled waves back, slowly running his hand through her hair. Draco leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. The brunette thought, _I'm just dreaming, this is just a big horrible nightmare. My parents weren't murdered, Harry didn't break up with me, and Malfoy isn't singing ballads or kissing me. _

"I'm dreaming," Hermione murmured against Draco's lips.

Draco stopped kissing her and chortled softly, "Then it's a good dream."

The Slytherin then leaned in closely, giving her a chaste kiss. Hermione entangled her hands in Draco's blonde hair in response, while the Slytherin wound his arms around Hermione's waist. Their kiss was broken when Draco nuzzled his face into Hermione's neck. , it was only a few moments when Hermione broke the silence.

"We shouldn't be doing this," Hermione whispered quietly while pushing the blonde away from her body.

Draco's eyes immediately hardened, "Then why didn't you stop me before, or were you too 'hurt' to realize I was kissing you! Do you think that every time something bad happens that I'll be there for you?"

Hermione boldly looked at the blonde, "I was confused and hurt, and I didn't know what to do. But now, I think I'm beginning to realize that this isn't a good idea."

The blonde narrowed his eyes; he didn't know what else to say. She shook her head from side to side, and then shamefully looked down at the floor. Only a few seconds later, Hermione's shoulders started to rise up and down erratically.

Draco stood up from the sofa; he stood looking down at her. It seemed as if they were back to the first day of school again, not knowing what to do to each other.

Professor Dumbledore had a frown on his face, but nevertheless coughed to grab the Gryffindor's attention.

"Miss Granger, the Professors, Remus, Tonks, and I have to come to a decision, like before; it is possible that one Death Eater escaped their fate. We will have to move you to another location in this castle, we don't want another incident to occur," Albus said in a grave tone.

Hermione looked up, she had a blank expression on her face, "Professor, is there going to be any other people who will know where my new living quarters will be?"

Albus was shocked at the way the young woman was handling all of this commotion so seriously without worrying about all the dangers. The headmaster thought for a few moments, then peered at Draco Malfoy over his half-moon spectacles.

"Mister Malfoy, I would presume that you might want to know where Miss Granger's new location might be."

The Slytherin glanced towards Hermione, after what happened a moment ago, he didn't know what to say. When he looked at Hermione, her face was expressionless; it would seem as if all of her emotions evaporated into thin air, leaving her lifeless.

"It might be safe for me to know, just in case something else happens," Draco responded, his eyes still not leaving Hermione's face.

"Miss Granger?" Albus asked, "Does this suit you that Mister Malfoy knows where your new room is located at?"

The brunette looked straight into the eyes of Albus Dumbledore, she nodded slightly. Hermione started to walk up towards her old room to go and quickly pack her belongings. The Slytherin had a worried look on his face and ran after her. He sprinted up to catch Hermione.

"What the hell do you think you are doing!" Draco asked in a harsh whisper.

Hermione slapped Draco's hand away from her wrist, "I'm trying to go and get my stuff, if you don't mind."

The Slytherin glared at Hermione's back, and then turned around to look at the professors.

"Yes, it is safe Mister Malfoy, if that's what you're worried about," Professor McGonagall assured her student.

With that, Draco quickly ran towards Hermione's older room, to find the brunette crumpled down on the floor, her belongings strewn about. The Slytherin noticed that this time when he walked into the room, everything was cleared up, as if nothing bad had ever happened before. He slowly walked towards Hermione, cautious and carefully. When he stood in front of her, he knelt down and asked in a soft whisper, "Do you need any help?"

As if Hermione was daydreaming, her head snapped up to look at Draco in the eye.

"No," Hermione sternly replied, then got up to turn her back towards him.

"If you want me to apologize to you for what I did earlier, I'm sorry. But you weren't acting all so innocent either, Granger," Draco said in a matter-in-fact tone.

Hermione let a frustrated noise, and turned sharply to look at him once more.

"Well at least I didn't sing _love ballads_ to you!" the Gryffindor stressed. "And, how am I supposed to know if this is all a sick joke that you've been planning for ages, and now that my parents died this was the perfect chance you've been waiting for!"

Draco swiftly stepped forward, leaving only a few millimeters between his face and hers. He grasped Hermione's shoulders and shook her slightly.

"How in Merlin's name am I ever going to get this through your thick head that I'm madly, irrevocably, helplessly in love with you," he confessed.

Hermione scoffed and then a few tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Malfoy, you know, the sad thing is, I'm actually beginning to agree with Harry," she responded quietly while looking away from his blue-grey eyes.

Draco's heart seemed to have shattered into a thousand pieces like a broken mirror. How could she have said that she didn't believe in any of this when he's been caring for her and going beyond the expectations of a Slytherin to help out another house member, which so happened to be their arch rival

"H-how can you not believe me?" Draco stuttered out.

Hermione faced her back towards the boy, but answered nevertheless.

"You just don't go around saying 'I love you' to a complete stranger. Even if all the other guys and girls in our school throw around those three very emotional, hurtful, and beautiful words, I won't allow you to say that to me. We don't even know each other! All I know about you is that you're egotistical, coldhearted, and a _pureblood_," Hermione started out, but while she was stating the facts, she was slamming things into her bags. She was angry that she would have to explain this to him.

The Gryffindor continued, "And all _you_ know about me is that I'm a bookworm, Harry and Ron are my only friends, and a _mudblood_. Do you know how frustrating and just abnormal it is when your enemy comes up to you when you're in a very horrible state and tells you that he's madly in love with you! NO, _of course_ you wouldn't because instead of having a normal relationship like a regular person would, girls just throw themselves at you and you enjoy it! That's disgusting to think that someone would actually do such a thing. Besides how the hell would I know that you might be just joking around? Draco Malfoy you are a womanizer and to hell with what you are saying!"

Hermione finished packing, but after she finished talking she slammed her hand down on her bag, making a loud thudded noise. The Slytherin flinched, never had he been rejected in such a way, and to top that, his heart was aching. It hurt to think that Hermione didn't want to speak or see him ever again.

The brunette charmed her bags so that they were small enough to fit inside her robe pocket. She swiftly brushed past the blonde and walked downstairs to meet her professors. He could hear Hermione's voice from downstairs.

"I'm ready, Professor."

There was a long pause, but Severus Snape soon asked, "And what of Draco?"

"He is still upstairs," Hermione responded.

Draco sighed deeply, then walked down the stairs and met up with his professors also.

"Sorry, I was a little preoccupied," Draco answered while he was looking straight towards Hermione.

She didn't look his way, but down towards the red, gold, green, and silver carpeted floor. Hermione knew that he was looking at her, she could feel his stare.

'_Hermione Granger, be tough. He didn't mean it, it was all just some sick joke that the Slytherin's thought of.'_

The Professors, Remus, Tonks, Hermione, and Draco all filed out of the Head rooms and towards a hallway that became familiar to Hermione. They stopped right in front of the Room of Requirements.

"Profe-" Hermione was cut off.

"Yes, I know that you are particularly familiar with this room from fifth year and so forth. That is the main reason for why we chose this room for you. Miss Granger, you know that when you walk in, whatever you need on your mind will appear, but this time, you will have to think of a password. The password Miss Granger will have to be changed every two weeks, remember! Now, the password for these two weeks will be 'Strix Struma'. The Professors and I have managed to charm this room to be similar like your older room, so we hope you will be comfortable," Dumbledore explained.

"Thank you."

The adults walked off and left the two students in the hallway. Hermione walked into the room and thought of the password, immediately the room changed into the same vast bedroom that she was supposed to use in the Head's Common Room. She looked back to find Draco inside her room. The Gryffindor frowned deeply.

"What are you doing in my room?" Hermione asked coldly while staring the Slytherin down.

"Just be reasonable, I-"

"REASONABLE? Excuse me? You want me to be reasonable that you just declared yourself to me, when you are supposed to be my enemy for Merlin's sake," Hermione screamed out loud while slamming her foot down.

"You know Granger; I risked my life more than once to make you safe from danger. Including getting my arse kicked several times and running in the fucking rain to save you from drowning yourself and _this_ is how you repay me!" Draco yelled.

"Who said you had to go and save me?" Hermione's voice faltered.

"I LOVE YOU! Is it that hard to comprehend?" Draco yelled. "You know what, never mind. Forget what I said and what I did for the past few days all right? And then we could just go our separate ways."

Draco started to leave for the door, he wanted Hermione to say stop and tell him that she was sorry. He was too expectant, but it never happened. So he left with a broken heart, while Hermione was left alone in her new bedroom trying to get situated.

A few days passed, weeks then months, it was October and Halloween was coming soon. It seemed as if only yesterday that it was the first day of school. Nothing important had happened during the past few months.

Hermione was always studying, she grew accustomed to the fact that her parents were dead and they weren't going to come back. Although she lived in solitude now in the Room of Requirements, some her very few friends came to visit her which included, Ginny, Lavender, Parvarti, and Ron. Once in awhile, she would make a rare appearance in the Great Hall. Since she did live in the Room of Requirements, she didn't exactly need to come down to the Hall for dinner since it could be provided in the room. Harry attempted to apologize to Hermione several times, but it usually ended up worse than before.

Draco Malfoy on the other hand was colder and heartless than before. After Hermione had rejected him so quickly, he spent more time to himself. Of course he was broken hearted, but Blaise and Pansy were there for him when needed. Usually after class ended he would head back to his room, and when it was time for dinner he would also sometimes come out. They would see one another at their own tables, but never greeted each other.

During the week of Halloween, Hermione and Draco accidentally brushed against each other while going to their Transfiguration's class.

"Watch where you're going, Granger," Draco muttered under his breath.

Hermione nodded in response and walked a little quicker, Draco was walking at the same pace as she was. The Slytherin noticed, he smirked and matched her quicker pace. The brunette let out an exasperated sigh and walked slower. The blonde followed her lead and walked slower.

"Malfoy, what are playing at?" Hermione asked.

"I'm just walking, is that a problem?"

"Don't be such a prat."

"You know that costume masquerade ball that the we're having, you going?" Draco asked while looking around the hallway to see if any other students were over hearing their conversation.

"No," Hermione sarcastically replied, "I just spent nearly half of my studying time to help out the whole damn thing and just decided I didn't want to go."

Draco shot a glare at Hermione then replied, "No need to be hostile."

"Oh hush, will you?" the Gryffindor ordered.

When the two of them arrived at to their classroom, Hermione stopped immediately. She looked around to find that every single seat was taken, except for one table and there was an empty seat beside it. Draco complained out loud that Hermione was going as slow as a garden snail, but when he too looked inside the classroom, he smirked.

"Granger, I guess you're going to have to come and sit with me," Draco muttered in Hermione's ear while steering the brunette towards the table.

Hermione glanced over at Harry and Ron. The red-haired boy gave her a sad sympathetic look while the raven-haired boy had a blank expression on his face. The Gryffindor sighed and sat down on the wooden seat next to Draco.

Although Professor McGonagall didn't approve of Hermione coming back to class so early after her parent's death, the witch started to teach her class about the turning into an Animaigus.

"Students, I assure you that trying to become an Animaigus without supervision can become quite messy. If you have read the chapter ahead you would remember that some students in the Beuxbaton Academy tried to turn into an Animaigus once, but didn't succeed. Instead she turned into half of the animal that she wished to become while the other half was her normal state. Your Headmaster had to help the authorities of the Academy at that time.

"You also know that I am an Animaigus, and my form is a cat. Now, who knows the given law for all the wizards and witches to obey when they begin to choose their animal?" Professor McGonagall asked the class expectantly.

As usual, Hermione's hand shot through the air, but it seemed as if Draco Malfoy was the quicker one in this draw.

"Mister Malfoy," Professor McGonagall called on the boy.

"Those who wish to become an Animaigus must have a distinct feature that other wizards or witches could identify easily," Draco smoothly replied.

"5 points for Slytherin," the Professor responded.

All eyes turned on Malfoy, it was known that the Slytherin Prince was smart, but never did he answer a question on his own will. Seventh year was going along quite strangely for the students.

Draco didn't notice all the looks that he was getting from the class, but instead he furiously started to scribble on a piece of parchment, then it seemed as if he was drawing something. It was a few minutes later when he slowly pushed the piece of paper towards Hermione's direction. It said:

_'But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?  
__It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!  
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon  
__Who is already sick and pale with grief?  
__That thou her maid art far more fair than she.  
__Be not her maid, since she is envious.  
__Her vestal livery is but sick and green,  
__And none but fools do wear it. Cast if off.  
__It is my lady! O, it is my love!  
__O, that she knew she were!  
__She speaks, yet she says nothing.  
__What of that? Her eye discourses; I will answer it.  
__I am too bold; 'tis not to me she speaks.  
__Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven  
__Having some business, do entreat her eyes  
__To twinkle in their spheres till they return.  
__What if her eyes were there, they in her head?  
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars  
__As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven  
__Would through the airy region stream so bright  
__That birds would sing and think it were not night.  
__See how she leans her cheek upon her hand!  
__O, that I were a glove upon that hand,  
__That I might touch that cheek! _

_Will you go to the ball with me, my fair Juliet? And I, as your Romeo?' _

Underneath the very long excerpt of Romeo and Juliet that Hermione recognized, there was a very beautiful drawing of a black rose. It looked so realistic, that she placed a finger on one of the black petals of the rose Instead of the coarse and scratchy parchment, there was a silky feeling. The drawing was enchanted into becoming an actual rose, instead of a black rose, a red one appeared on top of the drawing. Hermione opened her mouth in amazement and shock. She would have to admit that this was very romantic of Draco to quote Shakespeare and giving her a rose.

While Hermione was reading what he had just written, Draco was a little nervous. He didn't want her to reject him again, but it was stupid of him to even try to ask her to go with him. _'I shouldn't have even bothered.' _

A few tears started to well up in Hermione's eyes, but she quickly brushed it away and turned to look at Draco. He was looking straight ahead at their professor, taking a few notes when something important might be needed for remembering. The Gryffindor shyly tapped Draco's sleeve.

The Slytherin had been regretting that he even gave her that note, but he had to go through it somehow. It as when he felt someone tapping on his arm. He turned to face Hermione; she gave him a shy smile. His eyes had a questioning look, and Hermione blushed faintly. The Gryffindor knew she shouldn't be doing this, no, _they_ shouldn't be doing this. It was against everything, except there wasn't anything to hold them back. Voldemort was gone, and Draco's parents no longer remember what horrible people they were in the past. Well, there was one exception, Harry and Ron would be the only two who would be against the whole thing.

"Yes," Hermione softly whispered while looking down and fondling with the rose.

The Transfiguration lesson had ended and there was fifteen minutes for free time.

"I knew it! You still can't for- Hold on, did you just say yes?" Draco looked flabbergasted.

The Gryffindor nodded slowly. Draco ran his hand threw his silvery blonde hair but then he froze. Granger wasn't supposed to be this nice, she was supposed to throw the note in his face and yell at him for even trying to ask her.

"Do you pity me?" Draco asked in a rough voice.

It was Hermione's turn to look shocked.

"What made you think that?"

"You know it's not fair for a girl like you to keep on giving a guy like me hopes, but then smashing them as soon as you can."

"Excuse me?"

"A few weeks earlier, the last day you were in our Common Room. I sung a ballad for you, then we were fine, but all of the sudden you turned me down, saying it wasn't right."

"It really wasn't! I felt like I was using you, like you said, as sort of a rebound guy. I was hurt, and I didn't know what to do," Hermione tried explaining.

Then added, "I'm really sorry."

Draco sighed, then looked at Hermione with his blue-grey eyes and asked, "Are you positive that you want to go with me?"

"I'm positive," Hermione firmly agreed.

"Have a clue what you're going to dress up as?"

Hermione smiled, "You seriously can't be asking me that question when you just asked me if I can be your Juliet."

Draco started to say something, but Hermione didn't listen. She finally thought that maybe this was Draco's Shakespearean way of asking her if she wanted to be his girlfriend.

"-Well, yeah, I guess I was saying that. So I'll be Romeo and you Juliet? (No response) Granger, you there?"

The Gryffindor immediately asked, "Are you trying to ask me if I want to be your girlfriend."

"What! No! Why would I do that? I'm surprised that you even said yes to go to the thing with me!" Draco responded.

"Oh..."

Professor McGonagall started to dismiss her class. Draco and Hermione both got up and awkwardly stood in front of each other.

"Um... I'll see you later?" Draco asked innocently.

Hermione hesitated to answer, but sighed and smiled, "Sure?"

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Classes ended in a blur, and Hermione was soon in her new bedroom in the Room of Requirements.

"Strix Struma," Hermione muttered under her breath while adjusting her bag on her shoulder.

The painting swung open, she stepped inside her room, throwing her shoulder bag on the floor near her bed.

_'Why did I agree to go to the ball with Malfoy...?'_

**Because you were swept away off your feet from him quoting Romeo and Juliet. **

_'Well what if another guy quoted Romeo and Juliet, do you think I'd be swept off my feet again?' _

**Is there another guy who would? **

_'If you count Harry, I guess so, but whatever, Harry is my past.' _

**And is Draco Malfoy your future?**

_'EXCUSE ME!'_

**You heard me**

Hermione started to pace around her room, was she really starting to like Draco Malfoy. She couldn't, it was just all so wrong.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

Draco was walking down the hallway to his room, but was stopped by Blaise and Pansy.

"Did I just hear and see something that you would've never done in your whole entire life?" Pansy questioned Draco.

"One, I have no clue what you're talking about. And two, hey to you guys also," Draco responded while moving in front of the painting.

After telling the password to the painting, it swung open. The three of them stepped inside the common room; they all headed over near the fireplace.

"Come on, Drake. We saw you ask that mudblood out for the ball," Blaise said exasperatedly.

Draco, who was currently facing his back towards them, turned sharply around towards them.

"Voldemort is gone, yet you still are against half-bloods?" Draco asked.

"Hey! Draco, you know it's not that easy from forgetting what we've been learning for our whole lives, and now suddenly since Voldemort died, you're going to be all friendly towards Granger? Weren't you two enemies for the past six years?" Pansy tried defending her friend.

"Yeah, but what about you Pansy? You and your knew found love back in Surrey!" Draco yelled out towards the brunette.

Pansy, with no words to say, backed down. The blue eyed boy, or Blaise, walked up towards Draco until he was only a few inches away from his friend's face.

"You know that you and Granger weren't even friends, but now you're asking her to go to the ball with you? And then you charmed that blasted note to charm a flower to appear when she brushes her finger over it? What the fuck are you doing!" Blaise harshly whispered.

The blonde Slytherin scoffed, "So when Pansy gets to go and screw Muggle guys, you don't care at all, but if I ask one out it's a problem?"

"HEY! I don't screw Muggle guys, and just so you know, he has a name," Pansy started to defend herself.

"Yeah? Then what is his name?"

"Matthew Lexington," Pansy replied.

Draco rolled his eyes then started to walk upstairs to his room. His raven-haired friend started to run up the stairs to catch up with the blonde Slytherin. Blaise grabbed his friend's arm, and then made Draco turn around to face him.

"What the fuck do you want from me!" Draco yelled.

"Mate, calm down. It's not bad that you're going to the dance with Granger; it's just that, we're sort of shocked that you two already forgot about the bad previous relationship that you two had. It's not like you two have been good mates for awhile."

"You really want to know why this is all happening. Well let me tell you that I don't even know what's going on! If something bad happens to her, I want to be her shield and guide her away from darkness. I wouldn't care if I got hurt in the end, both mentally and physically, just as long as she's safe. I want to make her happy and make her forget about all the things that she has to go through," Draco passionately replied to his friend.

The brunette Slytherin sighed, "You've got it bad."

Draco turned back around and started to walk upstairs once more, but turned his head sideways and muttered under his breath, "I don't think it really matters now."

* * *

**Disclaimer: Always by Bon Jovi and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is found in this chapter. **

Speaking of Bon Jovi, I WENT TO HIS CONCERT ON FEBRUARY 15, 2006! OHHH MANNN That was the greatest show in the world! Jon Bon Jovi might as well beat Johnny Depp as the hottest oldest guy in the world. Wait, scratch that, he IS the hottest guy in the world. :) And if any of my reviewers are bon jovi fans, YEAHHH! And if not, then I hope you go and listen to some of his songs. Not the have a nice day album only, but all the other older songs. They are really really good!

**REViEWERS**:  
i take people's whits - ducks please don't thorw things at me? I'm just kidding, haha.. Okay, so how was the chapter?  
broadwaykueen - Hope this was long and sexy for you ;  
The Future Mrs. Thomas Andr... - thank you for the compliment, but I hope this meets up to your standards.  
cuteclaws - do you think that this was an okay chapter?  
kakashisninjadogs - I always love your little roleplaying thing on the reviews! They make me laugh.. :) Sorry for not making Blake as a little pervert yet, but it'll happen, I promise you! But don't kill me for this chapter, I know this wasn't all that great.  
hotpinkfreak - I hope this is sort of how you expected it? And thank you for the compliments.  
Seldom Darlin - I sort of mixed this into those drama types of things. I'm Korean and I can understand some of the crazy drama shows that they have on tv, so I sort of mixed that into the 10th chapter. Although this chapter wasn't all that great... grrr  
rizahawkeye21 - I don't think you're going to like this chapter, it's too... I dunno.. I just don't really like it.  
mallymuggle - I'm sorry that I was cruel for the other chapter, BUTthis chapterisn't all that great is it? Don't kill meeeee!  
ladyelaineofthegloom - thank youu :)  
habitat21 - thank you for enjoying that chapter

Thank you for all the reviews!

xXx33 Susie


	13. Chapter 12

**_DISCLAIMER_** - NONE OF THE HARRY POTTER CHARACTERS ARE MINE. ONLY THE PLOT BELONGS TO ME.

* * *

Chapter 12

(In Hermione's bedroom)

Hermione furiously paced her bedroom, she was thinking about the new interaction between her and Draco.

_"This is wrong thinking about Draco, no, MALFOY as a ... a... **guy**. Yeah, he's okay looking, romantic at heart, great singer, and seems to be there for me when times are rough, but he's also known as a womanizer. He's from **Slytherin**, and there is still that horrible past we have with each other! I can't help it that my two best friends and my House hate them... What do I do?" _the brunette thought to herself.

There was a soft knock on her door, and the small voice of Ginny Weasely asked if she, Harry, and Ron could come in. Hermione quickly opened the door and led them inside.

"I'm so gla-" the girl was cut off by two furious boys.

"I can't **believe** you actually said _YES_ to that twit!" Ron bellowed while his arms were flapping around in the air which quite resembled much like a distressed mother chicken.

"Hermione, can't you go with someone else? You know, besides Malfoy!" Harry followed after his red haired friend, except the arm flapping part.

"Well I think Draco has a distinctive charm, and is undeniably ... good looking," Ginny tried to help out her brunette friend.

Harry and Ron stopped yelling at Hermione and looked at Ron's younger sister in shock.

"Ginny Weasely, don't you ever say that again in your life, EVER!" Ron then decided to flail his arms at his sister now.

The messy haired boy just looked at Ginny as if she had grown two-heads right then and there.

"Oh grow up, you two," the red haired witch scolded the older boys. She then turned to look at Hermione and rolled her eyes.

Hermione couldn't help but laugh, and soon enough, the other girl joined in.

"Bloody girls, I don't understand them," Ron mumbled and walked out of the room, followed by Harry who also muttered something about girls and how incoherent they are.

That led them to another fit of laughter, but soon after they slowly calmed down, Ginny decided to ask about how Hermione was handling everything.

"Hermione, are you... all right? I know it seems as if your taking everything all well and mature, but then I'm afraid that you might not have anyone to talk to," Ginny quietly said.

The brunette sat down on her bed in an exhausted manner, while Ginny sat next to her friend.

"Gin, I don't know what to do anymore. The funeral last month was awful. While their casket was lowered, it came to me that I would never be able to see their faces for the last time," Hermione started to sob. "I still remember the fight that I had between my mum and me at the train station. It was over something really simple and _stupid_. She wanted me to come home for the Christmas holidays. I told her that I wanted to spend it in Hogwarts, you know, for one last time. We just ended up not saying goodbye in the end. Now I wish I can take it all back."

Hermione's face was tear-stained and her eyes were red. All Ginny could think of was to hug her friend and say nothing, she couldn't say that she understood what the brunette was going through, since her mum hadn't died.

"But, Malfoy-Draco... he was there for me at the times when I needed it," Hermione started to smile slowly.

"Did you know that he gave me my first kiss?" the brunette blushed pink and started to fumble around with her bedspread, "He also sang this beautiful song to me and did so much for me that all the guys in Hogwarts could never match up to. Ginny, I guess I'm mad or mental, but I think I'm in love with him..."

"Are you sure? I mean, you have to consider what he had done to us for the past six years. You two weren't exactly best mates," Ginny asked in a worried voice.

"Ginny, it's wrong… but it feels so right."

That was enough for her but she still decided that it would be safer if she kept a close eye on Draco. It was quite obvious that Draco was a womanizer and if all those rumors were true, he slept with almost all of the girls at Hogwarts.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

(Draco's Room with Blaise and Pansy)

Blaise and Pansy had followed Draco into his room with a full blown argument, but just decided to give up on trying to persuade the blonde to go to the ball with someone else.

"You know," Blaise suddenly asked, breaking the silence, "we should head over to somewhere fun over the winter break."

"Oh! We should go to Italy! I've always wanted to go to France! It's the city of romance and it would be just great. But we should bring someone with us, you know, since it'd be a little weird going just the three of us," Pansy quickly thought up of a plan.

"I see someone has been thinking about this for a very long time. Have you been waiting to ask Matthew or whatever his name is to come along with us? Well, news flash, we use magic and not using magic for over a week for those who have done magic their whole entire life doesn't exactly correspond that well," Blaise pointed out.

"I know that, and why would I invite Matthew when I can invite Blake," Pansy blurted out.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS!" Blaise fell on the floor laughing.

"Oh yeah? Well then Mr. Zambini, who do you plan on bringing?" Pansy questioned.

The blue-eyed boy turned bright red and muttered, "It's none of your concern."

"It's that Ginny Weasely girl isn't it!" Pansy interrogated.

When Blaise only blushed harder as his response, the Slytherin girl practically fell down from laughing so hard.

"And a few seconds ago, you were making fun of me for wanting to bring Blake!" she commented while grabbing her side.

"How quaint, one of my friends is infatuated with a Weasely and the other is in love with a pervert," Draco eyed the two of them.

The two of them scowled, but they knew him long enough that he was just joking around.

"So, who are you planning on bringing?" Blaise asked.

"I haven't thought about it yet," the blonde Slytherin waved it off.

Pansy wasn't satisfied with the answer, so she blurted out, "Are you planning on inviting Granger?"

There was a sudden pause around them; Pansy mentally slapped herself in being so nosy in Draco's business. When he coughed, she immediately focused her attention back towards Draco.

"I think I might, if everything goes according to my plan."

Neither of Draco's friends asked what his plans were.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Once everyone was settled at the Great Hall for dinner, Albus Dumbledore made an announcement that it was a nice weather to have a meal outside. The students were confused, especially the older students, since this hadn't happened before.

"We will be dining near the lake," the Headmaster gave a clue in where they would eat.

Practically all the girls in the room were overjoyed with the idea, especially since it was so romantic eating outside by the lake and such. Although, the guys weren't all that happy, they just wanted food, mainly Ronald Weasely complained. As soon as everything was prepared for the faculty members and students, everyone all headed out to the grounds. The sight was incredible, instead of the four long tables that everyone were used to, there were many smaller tables scattered around with candles as the centerpiece.

"Feel free to sit wherever you want, mingle with other Houses. More importantly, have fun," Dumbledore smiled with a twinkle in his eye.

There was a huge bustle of commotion, but in the end nearly everyone were sitting with other House members. One particular blonde Slytherin walked over to a smiling, brunette Gryffindor.

"Mind if I join you?" Draco politely asked.

The smile on Hermione's face faltered for a second, but before she could answer, Blaise and Pansy decided to come and join them also. Pansy decided to sit next to Blake, who in return gave her a questioning look, and Blaise sat next to Ginny in a calm manner that made the red-haired girl a little nervous. Ginny scolded herself and attempted to try and remind herself that this is a Slytherin, but her plan failed miserably and shyly flirted with the blue-eyed teenager. Not waiting for Hermione to answer, the blonde sat next to Hermione and smiled hesitantly.

"I could move if you wanted," the blonde leaned over and whispered.

"It's okay, I'm sure Ginny doesn't mind, but Harry, Ron, and Blake-" the brunette was soon cut off.

"Did I hear my name?" Blake butted in to their conversation.

"Nobody was talking to you," Draco coldly responded.

"No need to be hostile," Blake grinned, obviously this guy didn't realize when he was wanted or not.

"So, Hermione," Blake continued, while wrapping an arm around the brunette's shoulder, "you know, I've been known to be a ladies man."

"That's nice," Hermione tried to push Blake's arm off her.

It didn't move an inch, but Blake still continued on, "And I know you've been dying to get to know me better."

At last he released the grasp around her shoulder, but just as soon as he left her shoulder, she felt him pinch her bottom. Hermione turned a furious shade of red and faced the boy, who was trying to give her a seductive smile, and slapped him as hard as she could.

"What the hell was that for!" Blake whined while cradling his face.

"You are a-a- disgusting pervert who obviously likes to feel girls up and try to get them in your bed! You should be ashamed of yourself!" Hermione started to yell at her fellow Gryffindor, "and I can't **believe** that the Sorting Hat placed you in Gryffindor! You barely possess any Gryffindor qualities! You're more suited in S-"

Hermione had to stop herself, if she had said that Blake was more like a Slytherin, surely the Slytherin's who actually were sitting at their table would be offended deeply. Anybody's House compared with Blake would probably be ashamed.

"I was just joking around!"

"Arghh!"

Ginny couldn't help but laugh, and that caused the others who were sitting at the table with them, to laugh also. The brunette turned a bright shade of red, but when she glanced over at Draco, now sort of as a habit, she was surprised to see happiness gracing his facial figures. It almost took her breath away. Their laughters soon died away, and the particular Slytherin that Hermione was gazing at, turned to find the brunette blushing brilliantly. She was so embarrassed that Draco found out that she was 'glancing' at him.

"It's rude to stare," he whispered softly so that only she could hear him.

Hermione blushed brighter and more visible.

"Hermione! What's wrong with you?" Ron practically bellowed over the table.

"Ronald, I can hear you fine, so don't shout across the table! You're going to make me deaf," she scolded.

The red haired teenager muttered something incoherent, but nevertheless stopped his yelling.

Professor Dumbledore stood at one part of the Grounds and spoke loudly, "Students, I hope you have a good feast amongst your friends. And now… bon appetite!"

The wizened wizard slowly flicked his wand over the tables, and food immediately appeared in trays. As usual, Ron was staring lovingly at the food.

"Don't drool, Ron! That's gross!" Ginny Weasely cried out, taking notice to her brother's new affection to the food in front of them.

"Ha-ha, Gin. You're really funny," Ron sarcastically replied, but he started to pile enormous amount of food onto his plate.

Hermione chuckled while she too started to place food onto her plate. She picked up her fork and dug into her food. The brunette hadn't said a word while eating, so Draco took it upon himself to make her talk.

"Granger, if you ever hold a party, you're going to be a horribly boring host," Draco joked while playing around with his food in front of him.

The Gryffindor raised an eyebrow, "Really."

"Yes, really, and I'm sure Potter and Weasely, here might agree with me."

"Wha? Whoo?" Ron answered with food loaded in his mouth.

"That's disgusting," Ginny muttered to herself, and then decided to throw a roll at her brother.

"Oomph."

Harry laughed at his friend's face, which was contorted into funny expression. Hermione rolled her eyes rather noticeably and laughed, she soon stopped when she felt someone wrap their arm around her waist. She immediately thought it was Blake, since he had been harassing her earlier. The brunette threw a reproachful look at Blake, which he returned with a questionable glance since he was talking to Pansy. Besides, after what happened earlier, he was at least a foot apart from Hermione. Hermione looked down and noticed that the arm around her waist was strong and muscular; she immediately recognized it to be Draco Malfoy's. She started to inch away from his grasp, but it only caused to make him hold onto her stronger. The Gryffindor gave up and let him have an arm around her waist, in a protective manner, although it did make her uncomfortable.

Draco knew that he might have gone too far by putting his arm around Hermione's waist, but it was a chance that he was willing to take. He did feel her trying to move away, so he instinctively grabbed on tighter. After that, the brunette did nothing to move away from the Slytherin. He continued eating but with a smile on his face.

After dinner, the students were allowed to roam around the grounds for a span of about two hours. They all slowly got up. Ron groaned from eating too much food and Harry laughed. While Hermione started to stand up, she was still latched onto Draco's arm.

"Erm… Malfoy," Hermione mumbled so that the others couldn't hear her.

Draco looked at her questioningly, "What?"

Hermione didn't respond but just looked down at her waist that Draco was holding onto.

"Oh, yeah… er- sorry.."

He unwrapped his arm and the brunette was finally able to stand up. She stretched her legs by standing on her tip-toes.

"I wonder why Dumbledore's doing this," Hermione questioned out loud while the same group that had been sitting with them started to walk around the lake.

"Probably as a celebratory thing, you know, like yay-we-defeated-the-dark-lord-now-let's-party kind of thing," Ron responded happily and started to skip.

"You oaf, you look like a freakin' fairy," Ginny joked.

"I don't appreciate your criticisms," her brother exclaimed while he immediately stopped skipping.

"Constructive criticism is good for the soul, deal with it," the red haired witch growled.

"You two need to stop getting on each other's cases," Harry laughed while trying to separating the two Weaselys.

Hermione smiled, she then started to fall behind the happy group. The brunette deeply stared at the black shining waters of the lake. Quiet ripples were heard along with the soft chirping of animals in the forest and the wind that was softly blowing.

"Having any second thoughts?" a low voice interrupted the Gryffindor's thoughts.

"What!" the girl responded with shock.

"Are you starting to regret that you said yes to me?" Draco repeated.

"Why would I?"

"I dunno... have you ever had a feeling in your mind that this is wrong but right at the same time?"

"Erm... Malfoy I-" Hermione couldn't exactly respond to what the boy had just said to her.

"Or not." Draco muttered to himself when he saw the response that Hermione was giving him.

The two walked silently around the lake, now they were really far behind their friends.

_"This is so awkward..."_ the brunette thought to herself.

"You know, you don't have to be around us, besides it sort of feels weird," Hermione confided to the blonde Slytherin.

Before Draco could protest, she kept going.

"I mean... we haven't been the best of friends until the war was over, well not exactly. We've been off until that... day," her voice slowly died out.

The Slytherin had a worried expression on his face. He wasn't sure himself why he was around her today.

"Granger, I'm not sure if I can explain fully why I'm around with you so much."

"You could always try," Hermione needed an answer.

Draco let out a sigh, how was he supposed to explain his ways to her when he doesn't know himself?

"We should save this topic for a later time. Now, we need to get back to our friends, they might get the wrong idea about us," the blonde grabbed Hermione's hand and started to run towards the group that were a good 15-20 feet away from them.

When they reached their friends, Draco didn't release his grasp on Hermione's hand. A few of them thought that they were officially together, but then Hermione pried the blonde's hand away from hers.

"Took you two long enough."

Ron decided to remind everyone that the two were alone and actually talking for a considerably long period of time.

"We weren't gone that long. Besides we were just talking about Head duties and things," Hermione waved off the subject.

Draco concealed his hurt expression on his face, it seemed as if Hermione was embarrassed that she was talking to him about something else that did not go anywhere near the topic of Head duties.

After a few more minutes, Dumbledore announced that it was time to get back inside the school and go back to their own Houses. Hermione immediately rushed over the Ginny and started to talk to her. Draco sighed and walked slowly back to the castle. Blaise was walked towards his blonde friend.

"You know mate, after you two got back from talking or something, I saw that look that was on your face. No matter how hard you try to hide it, we can still see it. Is there something wrong?" Blake cautiously, he didn't exactly want a very angry Draco yelling things in his face.

"I don't know," Draco raked his hand through his blonde hair, "It just seems to me as if she's embarrassed about what we were talking about while we were walking."

"I'm guessing you two weren't talking about Head duties," Blake sheepishly smiled.

"Do you _think_ I would even want to talk about bloody Head duties? Hell no. I was just asking her…" he paused, "if she had second thoughts going to the ball with me."

"That's it?"

"It got a little personal towards the ending..."

"Drake, you've got to be kidding me. Okay, if it was personal, why would you think Granger would have wanted to tell the rest of her friends about what you two were talking about? And if she did say it out loud, wouldn't it be embarrassing for you?"

"Guess your right," Draco muttered.

"Now, go get her tiger. Make sure she doesn't have any regrets in going to the ball with you," Blaise slapped his hand on Draco's back.

"You're mental," the blonde Slytherin laughed while walking up the steps that led to the front entrance of Hogwarts.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Blaise and Pansy split off from the rest to go to the Slytherin's Common Room and Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Blaise walked off to Gryffindor's Common Room. Hermione and Draco started to walk silently to their own common rooms. The brunette turned at the corner where the Room of Requirements was located at, but Draco grabbed her by her hand.

"I'm pretty sure that both of us are going to be bored in our rooms, so if you don't mind... can you come over to my room?" the Slytherin looked into Hermione's eyes, pleadingly.

"Malfoy..."

"I'm not asking you to spend the night. We could just keep each other company since I'm sure that-" Draco was cut off by Hermione.

"Okay then, let's go," the brunette agreed but took back her hand.

When they reached the Head's Common Room, Draco muttered the password and went in, Hermione following behind him. It was the same as Hermione remembered it to be, the red and green couches, the beautiful mantle, and the stairs leading up to the rooms. Draco immediately sat down on one of the green couches; Hermione sat on a red one.

"Malfoy, I don't kn-"

"You don't have to say anything, its okay," the blonde silently whispered.

Hermione frowned; she saw no point in coming here if he wasn't even planning on talking to her. The Slytherin noticed and smiled faintly, he had to admit that he was missing the days when the brunette Gryffindor would be so angry and yell at him. Now, it was just awkward between the two of them, neither knowing what to say to each other. Especially after Hermione's parent's death, nothing has been going to the same as it used to be.

He got up from the couch, Hermione's eyes traveled up with him.

"I'm going to go change. Be right back," he nodded, turned around and walked up the stairs.

Hermione stuck out her tongue; it wasn't as if he could see what she was doing.

_'Why does he even want me here? I don't know what to say, and I don't know what to do. And then he goes upstairs but before telling me that he's going to change into different clothes. Like I care what he's doing up there.'_

"This is stupid," the brunette muttered, and stood up.

She cautiously walked towards the staircase; she suddenly remembered the day that she found the destruction in her old bedroom. Hermione shuddered, casted her eyes downward, but slowly, step by step, she walked up. She couldn't bring herself to go to her old room, so she walked slowly towards Draco's. When she reached the door, her hand was about to twist the doorknob open, but something in her mind told her to knock first, so she did. No answer. Hermione twisted the knob, and walked in, her head peering first to see if Draco was in a state that she wasn't supposed to see him in.

"This is … different," Hermione murmured to herself while walking fully in the green and silver clad room.

Hermione jumped up when she heard running of water faintly running from a sink or a shower. She laughed hesitantly to herself while placing a hand over her heart. She continued on to her little adventure of touring the young Malfoy's room. The brunette noticed a two row shelf filled with old and new leather bound books. She immediately walked towards the shelf and let her finger run across their spines. There were some interesting topics, although some of the genre included sports, such as Quidditch. She rolled her eyes and huffed, all guys were the same in one way or the other.

Hermione was too occupied with her thoughts to notice Draco open the bathroom door. He had washed his hair and a towel was draped over a shoulder, and his blonde hair was still slightly wet. Otherwise, he was wearing a black fitted short sleeve t-shirt and plaid pajama pants. Surprisingly, it was what a Muggle would wear. He couldn't help but smile at the sight before him. Something made him walk up behind her and wrap his arms tightly around her small figure.

The brunette hitched in a breath from shock. Somebody came up to her and was giving her a bear hug. The person then laid his head down on her shoulder.

_'Don't panic, don't panic. It's just Malfoy... what the hell; he wouldn't do this, would he?'_

She slowly turned her head around to find the cool grey eyed Draco Malfoy she knew for six years.

"What the he-" she was cut off by the cool lips of a certain Slytherin that gently touched hers.

* * *

A/N: (sigh) I wish a guy would just come up behind me and kiss me. :) haha.. yeah. Well, anyways... here are the excuses that you need to know.

1) My laptop's microsoft word thing expired and so I had to transfer this document to the downstairs computer. (i.e. my laptop only uses cd's instead of disks so I had to send it via email.)  
2) Too bad that the downstair's computer's internet is crappy.  
3) I even tried to just submit it in rough draft, but I couldn't do that to you guys.  
4) The end of the school year was getting closer and everything was hectic. Since I'm going to highschool next year, we had to get all our forms in, study for our final exams and blah blah blah. And BAM it was the end of the school year. WOO HOO! and BOO HOO:P  
5) My cousins came over from Lousisian YAY! And we all went on a cruise to the caribbeans. We visited Key West and Cozumel. WOO HOO! Dude the boat and our rooms were flippin ssssswwwweeeeettttt.

Before going on the cruise though, this guy that my uncle knew came along with my cousins (he came with his family too). And YES! He is a computer person so he fixed everything. And he put a new word thing so I can do it right here on my laptop.  
Now... all I have to say besides all the reviews, I hope you liked this chapter. I have to tell you that it was hard for me to write since I've had an extremely long case of writers block, but then I had this idea about Hermione being kissed by Draco in an unexpected manner. And there you go, it's right up there, although I have to say, SORRY FOR THE CLIFFHANGER!

HERE ARE ZE REVIEWS FOR CHAPTER 11:

**rowlinghermione** - thank you so much. It's nice to know that my story is keeping you awake :) How was the skiing? Hope there's enough change for you in this chapter...  
**Seldom Darlin** - Yeah, of course it's a girl's dream! I'm practically writing about what I would like to happen to me. Haha.. YES! I don't have skimpy chapters:P I hate it when the stories that I read have so short chapters, it drives me nuts. I try to follow jk and write super long ones, but sorry to disappoint on this one. Like I said above, blame my writers block please.  
**Silent Screams In The Night** - I'm glad that you loved that chapter. Nowlove this chapter! I COMMAND YOU! haha.. I'm just kidding.  
**dracoshott28** - it's so nice to receive compliments on my story. yayyyyy hope you enjoyed this chapter  
**rizahawkeye21** - aww don't cry! And thank you very much that you liked this chapter. Sorry for not updating sooner, but I have another chapter coming up really soon.  
**kakashisninjadogs** - I know I've said this a lot, but I seriously love your s/n it's very unique and your small dialogues are really funny! OH! OH! DID YOU LIKE THE WAY BLAKE WAS IN THIS CHAPTER? I'LL MAKE HIM EVEN MORE PERVERSE but that was all I could do in this chapter. And the angsty part isn't over yet, so just keep on waiting for the next chapters to come.  
**i take people's whits** - : looks up : yes! she stopped! WOO HOO! go you! you love bon jovi too!

All right... so I have 91 reviews in total. That makes me really happy :) thanks for the support. Until next time...

xXx33 susie


	14. Chapter 13

DISCLAIMER : NONE OF THE CHARACTERS ARE MINE!

I think I'll dedicate this story to **RIZAHAWKEYE21! **this user has been a very constant reviewer and I feel grateful that she has stayed with me for a very long time. THANKS!

* * *

Chapter 13

Draco turned Hermione around so that she was facing him completely. His lips did not move away from hers while they shifted. He slowly slid his arm around her waist and raised his hand to cradle Hermione's face.

Hermione couldn't think straight. What was Draco doing, nevertheless what the hell was _she _doing! Without thinking properly, she slowly ran her fingers through his hair. Surprisingly, this action caused the blonde to moan deeply inside her mouth. Draco pushed her up against the wall of his bedroom; he heard a few books falling down on to the floor.

_'Screw the books...'_

His arms left Hermione's waist and were placed right besides Hermione's head. Once he was settled in a comfortable position once more, Draco's hot mouth started to travel down to Hermione's neck. The brunette emitted a tiny moan, which caused Draco to move at a faster pace. When his fingers were hovering above her blouse buttons, Hermione decided that this should stop.

"We shouldn't," she panted, her cheeks colored a brilliant red.

Draco didn't want to take no for an answer, so he leaned in and gave Hermione a demanding kiss. Just when she was about to protest, the door suddenly opened. Hermione and Draco quickly separated, both of them flushed from their previous engagement. Standing in the doorway, Blaise and Pansy gaped at them.

"What the hell..." Blaise muttered so that only Pansy could hear.

"Beats me..."

The blonde Slytherin feigned a cough, and smiled hesitantly while running a hand through his already mussed hair. Hermione, who was too embarrassed to show her face, looked down on the floor with her arms crossed in front of her. She let her long brunette curls to hang down in front of her face a veil.

"Hope we weren't interrupting anything," Pansy mumbled to Draco.

"Um... yeah," Draco cleared his throat. "So, what do you need?"

"We'll tell you later," Blaise said in a strained apologetic tone while grabbing Pansy by the arm, while leading himself and his friend out of Draco's room.

Before Blaise and Pansy were out of earshot, Hermione said, "NO! Wait.. I mean. I'll think I'll be going. Draco. Pansy. Blaise."

She then bid the three Slytherins goodbye and rushed out of Draco's room.

Hermione quickly shut the door and ran back to her room as fast as she could. Meanwhile, back in Draco's room, Blaise started to laugh.

"What's so funny," Draco wanted to know.

In between his laughter, Blaise managed to say, "You (laugh) should've _seen_ (laugh) the look (laugh) on her **FACE!**"

"Blaise, don't be so immature and thoughtless. What would you do if Draco and I walked in on you with the girl who you've loved since the beginning of the year?" Pansy tried to explain to Blaise.

"Good point."

"Woah, wait, what are you talking about when you just said 'the girl who I've loved since the beginning of the year?' In the beginning of the year we were... just-" Draco wanted to get things straight.

"Oh, sorry, I guess I got that wrong then. What I mean to say is that you fell in love with her ever since you first laid eyes on her," Pansy corrected herself.

"WHAT!" with wide eyes, Draco yelled.

"Even though what she just said did not make sense in any way, don't look so shocked, Drake. You, me, Pansy, and the school knows it's true."

"What are you talking about! For the past six years, I've loathed her and ... and-"

"And never dreamed of being of friends with her nevertheless fall in love with her?" Blaise sarcastically filled in the last parts of Draco's unspoken words. "Sorry mate, but you didn't quite succeed on that."

"I can't believe you guys are actually implying that I'm in love with a m-... a mudblood?" Draco barely managed to get the word 'mudblood' out of his mouth.

"He hesitated," Pansy muttered over to Blaise.

"I'm well aware of that," he responded irritably.

"I can't believe you two are that daft to think that I can't hear you from only a mere distance," the blonde hissed in an annoyed manner. He then added to himself, "It's like they think I'm deaf or something."

"We know you can hear us," the both of them simultaneously replied.

"Then what's with the-... never mind. I'm just going mad."

"Yeah, mad for a certain brunette Gryffindor," Pansy mumbled while rolling her eyes.

"I HEARD THAT!" Draco yelled in frustration.

"You know, I think I'm getting a tad sleepy, so I'll be off," Blaise even yawned as a hint that he was getting tired.

"Right behind you, Blaise," Pansy followed the retreating Slytherin when Draco stopped them.

"You two aren't seriously going to just leave like that, are you?" he asked flabbergasted.

"Like what exactly," Pansy narrowed her eyes.

"I don't know... leaving me hanging?" Draco tried to explain.

"What are you talking about? " the witch started to laugh hysterically.

"Mate, if you just wanted us to stay here with you, you could've just asked," Blaise patted his blonde friend on the back.

"Funny," Draco sarcastically responded.

"Damn right it is," Blaise did his best impersonation of a stoner.

The Slytherins just ended up laughing over Blaise's poor impersonation skills and teasing Draco incessantly about a certain Gryffindor for some time.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Meanwhile, after Hermione's embarrassing moment back in Draco's room, she swiftly headed over to her room. Once she arrived, she stood in front of the portrait, contemplating for a moment.

_'Did I just kiss Draco Malfoy? No, that's... that's just impossible. laughs inwardly Well actually, **I** didn't kiss him, he kissed **me**...'_

Soon after she collected her thoughts, Hermione decided to head over to the Gryffindor's Common Room to see what her friends were up to. She slowly smiled when she started to climb the winding stairs to the Gryffindor Tower. Hermione missed her usual routine that she was so comfortable with. Now everything is completely new and foreign to her.

When she reached the portrait of the Fat Lady in her pink gown, Hermione had to ponder before announcing the password.

"Pink lotuses."

Hermione then added to herself in her thoughts, "What an odd password."

The portrait swung open, letting a low creak to emit from the brass hinges. She stepped in and was immediately greeted by the few students who knew her.

"Hermione! What are you doing here? I thought you were with Dr-" Ginny practically yelled, but was cut off when Hermione swiftly placed her hand over her friend's mouth.

"Wvat arph yew doing!" the red head tried to speak through the brunette's small hand.

"I need to talk to you. It's important," Hermione looked agitated.

"Ophkay, jfust let meph go?"

"Oh, right. Sorry."

"No problem. I'm used to my friends just grabbing me and placing their hand over my mouth to prevent me from speaking properly" Ginny joked.

"Sorry."

"Its fine, I'm just teasing. Well, come on then," the red head led her friend up to her room.

Before they went in, Ginny checked to see if any of her roommates were somewhere in the room. There was Angela and Christie-those two aren't any trouble, unlike girls who act like Parvarti or Lavender-but nevertheless, they hopped onto Ginny's bed, closed the curtains around them, and Hermione placed a silence charm around them.

Once everything was safe and secured, Hermione decided to tell her friend everything.

"We kissed, well technically he kissed me, but-"

"YOU WHAT!"

"We... er- kissed?" Hermione started to blush a bright red.

"Oh! I knew this was going to happen sooner or later!" Ginny squealed.

"Y-you don't think this is wrong, do you?"

"Absolutely not! It's like the whole Romeo and Juliet, star-crossed lovers! You know, Draco's a Slytherin and you are a Gryffindor. If we put Draco in the Romeo and Juliet situation then he would be a Montague and you would be a Capulet. This is so romantic!"

_'That's what I thought... but then there's the ending that we have to consider about.' _Hermione immediately thought back to the rose and the note that he had written to her.

"Gin, have you even read the book?"

"Yes," the red head responded in a matter-in-fact tone, but then admitted, "well, actually no but I do know the summary of it so-"

"So you do know that Romeo and Juliet both die in the end, right?" Hermione decided to enlighten her friend on this detail that haven't exactly reached out to the red haired witch at this point.

"Right..." realization finally hit Ginny, but then quickly added, "but that's just a book. This is real life."

"Sadly…"

The red head gave her friend a sympathetic look. Ginny was sure that Hermione wasn't over her parents death and for the past few weeks, Hermione had managed to pull off that she was completely fine. But now that she was away from the other people that would just make things complicated, the brunette let her true feelings show.

"Oh, Hermione..." Ginny grabbed her friend and gave her a huge bear hug that her mother was commonly known for.

The brunette sniffled and tried to pry herself away from her friend, "Don't bother, I'm fine."

"No, you are **not** fine. You didn't even have a chance to mourn for Merlin's sake! Hermione, there are times when it's not necessary to grieve, but in this case, you have to. It's a system that you just have to go through. You can't skip it, if you do it'll just mess up the whole process," Ginny tried to knock some sense into her friend.

Hermione just closed her eyes for awhile, not sure how to respond to this. Ginny was right, she had just tried to make it seem as if everything was fine and that nothing had happened. She even tried to prevent herself from thinking about the old memories she had with her parents when she missed and thought about them.

"I'm here for you and I'm sure Draco is too. So, now get on with the story. Details woman, I need details," Ginny quickly changed the subject.

Just as soon as the two were becoming emotional, they switched back to full girly mode.

After Hermione explained what had happened, Ginny squealed in delight.

"I don't know why you're so happy about this," the brunette grumbled.

"Have you not heard one single word that I have said to you this evening? THIS IS ABSOLUTELY ROMANTIC!"

Hermione rolled her eyes in disagreement.

"Don't you dare roll your eyes at me, Hermione Jane Granger!"

Just to make Ginny peeved, the brunette rolled her eyes slowly.

"Do that one more time and I'll go running towards Draco and tell him that you have been secretly but madly in love with him ever since your first year!" Ginny threatened.

Hermione decided to joke around and replied in a mockingly shocked voice while placing her hand dramatically over her heart, "Ginny! I can't believe you found out my deepest darkest secret!"

The two of them giggled uncontrollably. They slowly quieted down and it was silent for awhile.

"So, 'Mione... what are you planning on doing tomorrow. Now that you've kissed him, do you think you're capable of talking to him?"

"Of course I'll be able to talk to him. Just because we _kissed_ doesn't mean that I would act differently around him.

"He might think otherwise," Ginny added at the end.

Hermione gave up easily and took the easy way out, "I'll know what to do when I get there."

The two continued on with their conversation, except it was mostly centered around the latest fashion, newest couples, or just boys in general. In the end, Hermione decided that it would be better if she just stayed and spent the night in the Gryffindor Tower, rather than her own room. Besides, she was in need of company.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Back in the Gryffindor Common Room, Ron turned towards Harry with a concerned look on his face.

"Oi, Harry," Ron whispered to his messy haired friend.

The green eyed wizard looked over at Ron, "What?"

"You know, er- before school started. You liked 'Mione and…"

"… Yeah?"

"Are you," Ron raked his hand through his bright red hair, "are you all right with her and Malfoy being together?"

"It's not everyday that one of your best mates runs off with a Slytherin, but I guess I'm fine with everything that's going on between them. If I can't make her happy, then it wasn't never really meant to be," Harry sighed with a slight remorse in his tone.

The red head looked blankly at his friend, "Bloody hell Harry, are you positively sure that you're over her?"

"YEAH, I am!" Harry forcefully replied.

"All right, mate," Ron raised his hands in defense, "I was just concerned, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess so," he got up, "Look, I'm going to go on and head upstairs, see you later."

Harry walked up stairs without waiting for Ron. The red head just sighed and leaned back in his armchair. He closed his eyes for a brief second, and then just decided that he should go on up to the dormitories as well.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

After their share of fun was finally over, Blaise and Pansy finally headed back to their House's Common Room. Soon enough, Draco paced around his room. He thought about the kiss that he shared with Hermione, he smiled at the memory.

_'If Hermione didn't like me, then she would have protested while we kissed, but instead she went along with it. Hell, she probably wanted it as much as I did!'_

Draco then thought back when Blaise and Pansy had said that he had liked Hermione ever since he met her.

_'That's not true; I started to like her during the third year, not ever since I laid eyes on her. The first two years I was just filled with stupid prattle from father about how all purebloods should hate mudbloods etc. Well, they won't need to know that particular information, since I am positive that it would only cause more ridicule.' ' _

The Slytherin walked over to his king sized bed and sat down on it. He reached down to the hem of his black shirt and pulled it over him. Usually, after Draco took a shower, he would just leave his shirt off since that was how he went to bed. But since Hermione was present at that time, he had put on a shirt. Now that nobody was here, he just took it off.

Before he turned the lights out, he thought out loud, "What the hell am I going to do tomorrow?"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The next day, Hermione woke up with a groan. She slept on a spare bed in the girls' dormitories in the Gryffindor Tower. Throughout the night, Hermione tossed and turned, thinking about Draco and what might happen when they would meet again. She finally fell asleep around three o'clock in the morning.

Soon enough, the sun crept into the room; she could hear the other girls groaning and shifting their bodies so that they wouldn't have to face the obtrusive sunlight.

The brunette sighed and closed her eyes, _'What would other people say if I Malfoy and I became a couple? Not that I care about that or anything. Maybe I should just stay in bed and act like I'm sick. But Ginny's smart enough to see past that and would try to convince me that I should just act as if nothing had happened. Oh yeah, Blaise and Pansy saw us kiss, so that would be two others on the list, and finally, Draco. Merlin, what am I going to do now?'_

Hermione looked around if anybody else was awake; nope, they were still slumbering on. She clambered out of her bed and crept out of the room. Luckily the door didn't creak and wake up the girls. Since Hermione slept in her school uniform, she quickly rushed over to the Room of Requirements to go and freshen up before classes would begin.

She took off her uniform and spread it out on her bed. With her wand, Hermione quickly cleaned it and pressed out the wrinkles. She was satisfied with the result and then went to her bathroom; she was in need of a long, warm shower.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Draco didn't sleep at all at night; he was too busy pondering about what would happen the next time he would meet up with Hermione. The sunlight slowly crept into his room; he looked over at his glass window.

_'I sure as hell can't avoid her, it would just cause some curious remarks about us, not that there even is an "us". At least she said that she had no regrets on saying yes to me.'_

The Slytherin got out of his bed and walked over to his bathroom. He quickly washed his face and brushed his teeth. After that Draco ambled back to his room and got dressed. When he looked at the large grandfather clock that was placed at the far right corner of his room, he groaned. It was only seven o'clock, there was still an hour left until breakfast was served. Draco thought of reading a book, but he knew he would just soon become disinterested. He walked over to his closet and took out his broom. Draco smiled; it had been awhile since he had ridden his broom. He walked over to his large window and opened it. He climbed on and flew out of his room and into the air.

Draco inhaled deeply; it was nice to be outside. He flew out towards the Forbidden Forest and just drifted there. With content, he sighed and closed his eyes.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Hermione finished her long and relaxing shower and she was so relaxed and comfortable. When she stepped out, she almost collapsed because her legs were too loose. Hermione's head was spinning around and made her nauseous for a second. Hermione quickly closed her eyes and steadied herself.

"Ugh..." she groaned while tip-toeing over to the sink.

The brunette opened her eyes and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She sighed and had to admit that she wasn't looking so good right now. Dark circles were inhabiting around the lower parts of her eyes which made her eyes look extremely dull.

_'I know I'm not pretty or beautiful, so what does Malf- Draco see in me? Hell, I know he isn't going for my personality, or is he? rolls eyes Men. Hah! More like males in general. They are so confusing. Now, I need to think of a ne...'_

Hermione let her thoughts wander while she brushed her dripping wet hair. After her hair was tame and good for the public eye, she walked out of her bathroom. Hermioneslowly put on her clothes and when she was done, she looked over at her clock. It was only seven thirty, thirty more minutes to waste.

The brunette thought to herself, "Oh, the professors won't mind if I'm in the Great Hall early, and I'll just bring Jane Eyre with me and try and reach a decent point. That sounds good..."

The Gryffindor walked over to the edge of her bed and picked up her tan, leather messenger bag. She then walked to the entrance of her bedroom and opened the door. Shifting her bag on her shoulder, Hermione stepped out and started to head over to the Great Hall.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Once Draco was relaxed and almost ready for anything, he headed back to his room. Draco looked at his clock once more, it was seven thirty.

_'Damn it, I hate it when time goes by so slowly..._'

The Slytherin decided to go out and walk around the castle. Nobody in their right mind would be awake at this hour, including Ms. Norris and Filch. Draco quickly left the Head rooms and just started to walk around. Without realizing it, he was walking towards the Great Hall.

_'Guess I've got food on my mind... come to think of it, I am getting a little hungry_.'

Just as he turned at a corner, he saw a familiar figure walking only a few feet in front of him. Long, wavy, brown hair, considerably average length skirt, and an overstuffed bag that's about to burst open.

Draco smiled, _'Hermione...'_

He swiftly walked over to the girl and just as he was only a few steps behind her, she turned around.

"What in Merlin's name ar-"

When she noticed that it was Draco, Hermione's eyes went wide with shock.

"I-I-uh..." she laughed nervously, "bye."

"Woah, woah, woah," Draco grabbed her wrist. "Where do you think you're going?"

The brunette didn't turn around to answer so she answered while facing the opposite direction, "Going somewhere that's none of your concern."

"Okay, but I'm curious, and don't you dare give me that phrase 'Curiosity killed the cat' because I for one do _not_ resemble a cat whatsoever," Draco rambled.

"Oh yeah?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. Soon there was a mischievous look in her eyes, she continued, "Well then, curiosity killed the Slytherin."

"All right," Draco easily gave up, "but I'm bored."

The blonde hopefully looked at Hermione. When she noticed that Draco was looking at her, she rolled her eyes and answered.

"I'm not an amusement park, Draco. Go and entertain yourself somewhere else."

"I don't kno-" Draco immediately stopped and thought back, "Wait, did you just say my first name?"

"Does it really matter?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," the Slytherin smirked, "yes, it makes quite a big difference."

He was still holding onto Hermione's wrist, so he started to lead her somewhere else other than the Great Hall.

"Where are you taking me?" the brunette tried to match Draco's long and swift strides.

"Somewhere," he grinned.

When at last he reached his destination, Hermione groaned when she realized where she was.

"You've got to be kidding me," the brunette looked at the familiar sun and moon painting.

They were standing in front of the entrance to the Head rooms. Hermione pried her hand away from Draco's grasp and started to head back towards the Great Hall or at least somewhere else other than _here_.

"Well, if I was just kidding around then I wouldn't be doing this."

"Doing wha-"

For the second time in the same week, Hermione was being snogged by Draco Malfoy. The surprising thing about it was that Hermione was responding eagerly and was practically attacking him. At first, Draco was in shock because of the way that Hermione was acting, but soon began to smile. His plan was working in some odd and unbelievable way.

After a few minutes of heated passion in front of the Head rooms, Draco pulled away from Hermione panting. But as soon as he let her go, he just pulled her right back in towards his chest. When he heard Hermione trying to breathe correctly, he chuckled softly.

"What's so funny," she softly murmured.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe that you probably just attacked me a few minutes ago?" he teased.

"I didn't attack you! You attacked me!" she fired back, but it was less intimidating since she was saying it into his broad chest.

"Fine, I'll admit that I was being 'forward' (making air quotes) at first, but-"

"Who bloody cares if it was the bird who was aggressive one or if it was the bloke! Now just say the bloody password if you want in or not!" the sun shouted at the two teenagers.

"Oh, shush. Can't you see they were having a moment?" the moon scolded the yellow orb.

"All right, but nevertheless what's the password."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Once the two got in Draco immediately grabbed the brunette and pulled her towards the stairs. Hermione stubbornly stood still, resisting the strong pulling. The Slytherin turned around and gave her an exasperated look.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me why you brought me here," she firmly responded.

_'Merlin... please tell me she did not just as me that question. She can't be that bloody clueless! Can she?' _

Draco lifted one eyebrow and then responded, "All right then."

He swiftly leaned and wrapped his arms around her waist and started to kiss her gently. Hermione wasn't exactly prepared for this kind of response but at that moment she couldn't give a fuck whether or not she was kissing Draco Malfoy.

The Slytherin picked her up, which Hermione immediately responded by wrapping her legs around his waist, and started to lead her up to his room. Even though he was carrying a full grown teenage girl, he didn't stumble at all when he climbed up the stairs.

While she was being carried up to Draco's room, Hermione was quite aware of Draco taking her up to his room and knew that they weren't going to be only kissing. Instead of ruining the moment, she just went along with it and decided to wait and talk to him when they were up in his room.

Draco sensed Hermione stiffen when they crossed his doorway. Being the gentleman that he was around her, he stopped what they were doing and looked at her with concern.

"Maybe this isn't the right time," he started to untangle himself from the brunette and then leaned against the dark green painted wall.

Hermione softly sighed and gazed right back at him.

"Maybe you're right," the brunette murmured and then she suddenly pushed her body onto him and whispered in his ear, "but then again..."

She nipped his ear and placed soft kisses on Draco's neck. The Slytherin enjoyed this gesture that he was receiving for a moment, but gently pushed her away from him.

"Breakfast is going to be served really soon and-"

Hermione had a confused look on her face, "I thought you wanted this."

"I do, it's just that-"

"But what!" her voice became hoarse.

The Gryffindor had a hidden agenda up her sleeves; she wanted to prove to herself that Draco Malfoy was not the type of guy to have for a boyfriend. So she was practically throwing herself onto him. Hermione decided to go overboard with her act and tried to muster up fake tears. Her tears formed and obediently rolled down her cheeks. Although a part of her wanted to do this all along.

The blonde immediately cradled her face and kissed the tears away.

"Listen to me," Draco kissed her on her lips this time, "I really do... _did_ want this, but it's all wrong. I don't want it to happen like this! I've gone too far this time and this isn't how it should be."

Hermione frowned and then leaned in closely; she placed her two hands on his chest.

She leaned closer till her lips were grazing his own.

"You're such a gentleman..."

The brunette had a smirk on her face that could match up to Draco's, she then bit his bottom lip and tugged it gently. Hermione pushed herself away from Draco and started to walk towards the door, hips swaying, when he grabbed her arm and pushed himself against her.

"You drive me crazy sometimes, you know that?"

With that, he kissed her deeply on her mouth. Hermione didn't respond so he pulled himself away from her.

"You're right, we shouldn't," he whispered in a low and husky manner and then turned his head away from her.

Draco walked over to his bed and sat down. Running both of his hands through his hair, he thought to himself, _'What the hell happened to her? She isn't usually like this! Hermione's starting to act like the rest of the girls in this school. If that's not the answer, then she could be just testing me if I would go all the way with her. If I started to go in that direction, then she would leave me and decide that she would never date me. What I just did was a right choice then, but now I just hope that I'm right about it.' _

Hermione was surprised; she hadn't thought that he would resist a girl when she 'willingly' threw herself onto him.

_'Maybe he's not all that bad...'_

The brunette started to walk towards the door once more, but this time he didn't stop her. Before leaving the room, she looked back at his figure and sighed softly.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Oi!" Ron jabbed Harry on the side with his elbow, "Where's Hermione?"

Harry had a peeved look on his face, for his best mate had just interrupted him in his breakfast. He replied in an annoyed voice, "How would I know?"

"What about you?" he pointed his question towards his sister, Ginny.

"Okay Ron, let me go through this with you slowly so that you can comprehend what I am saying. One, Hermione doesn't live in the Gryffindor Tower anymore. Two, she left before any of us were up. Three, it has been less then ten hours since you have seen her. And four, why must you absolutely know where she is at the current moment?" the red headed girl said in a very slow pace.

In response, Ron said, "Well you should know that our Hermione is fraternizing with the enemy."

The raven haired teenager settled his fork down on his plate and started to rub his hands together in anticipation. He could just see Ginny reach over the table and smack his friend on the head.

"You twit," Harry chuckled, "you're in for it now."

"Wha-"

Without being able to finish his sentence, he was hit in the back of his head.

"Bloody hell! That hurt!" Ron started to massage the back of his neck.

"Too bad," Hermione sat in between Ron and Harry, "you shouldn't be talking about me behind my back."

"It wasn't like that at all, 'Mione!" the red headed boy started to defend himself.

"Oh, hush," she hissed while scooping some scrambled eggs onto her plate, "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to eat my breakfast peacefully?"

Harry gave Ginny a questioning look, in which she just shrugged.

While Hermione was nibbling on a toast covered in butter and marmalade, she was thinking about a certain blonde Slytherin.

_'Was I acting way too over the top with Draco? I mean, I wasn't myself in front of him, and he's knows that I don't act like that… Why am I doing this?'_

While she was deep in her thoughts, Hermione didn't notice that Draco had walked into the Great Hall. He swiftly glided over to his table and sat down next to Blaise and Pansy. Draco then poured himself some orange juice and drank deeply. It was when Hermione saw out of the corner of her eye something blond sitting down, did she finally come back to the present.

Draco could feel her gaze on him, but acted as if he didn't notice. He started to make small talk with Blaise about something completely irrelevant.

Hermione sighed outwardly, catching the attention of Ginny, Harry, and Ron.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Ginny, who was sitting across from Ron, asked in a concerned voice.

"It's nothing," she responded while pushing her eggs around her plate with her fork.

"I don't think it's just a nothing," Harry commented.

"I'm promise, it's nothing important. You know, it's just the stress that's gotten to me, but other than that, everything's perfect. Never could be better," Hermione replied in a fake cheery voice.

"You, my friend, need a seriously big hug," the raven haired teenager pulled her towards his chest and gave her a bear hug.

This time, it was Draco who noticed something going on at the Gryffindor table.

"What the hell is she doing?" he thought out loud without thinking.

"Who are you talking to mate?" Blaise asked, looking at his friend oddly.

"No one, but since I've got your attention, look over at Potter and his friends," Draco nodded towards the Gryffindor table.

"What about them," the blue eyed Slytherin didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"Why the hell is she hugging Potter?"

"Who? Hermione?"

"No, Blaise, Ginny. Of course it's Hermione!"

"Beats me."

Blaise could care less why the two were hugging since he was too busy watching Ginny Weasely.

"Au contraire," Pansy joined in, "it was Potter who gave and is still giving the hug to Granger. Not the other way around."

Without any warning, Draco stood up from the wooden bench and strided over towards the Gryffindors. It was only a matter of seconds when he reached the table. The Slytherin walked over to the two teenagers and pulled Hermione up.

"What are you doing!" Hermione demanded while tugging her arm away from the Slytherin.

"Malfoy, let her go," Harry stood up and commanded in a calm tone.

"Potter, get this through your head. She. doesn't. like. you. All right?" Draco coldly responded.

The whole Gryffindor table grew quiet, nevertheless the entire Great Hall. The students were all eager to listen to what was going on between the three older students. Even the professors and staff grew quiet and started to listen intently.

Harry looked uncomfortable that the whole school was watching and listening in on their conversation.

"Look, this is becoming a bigger situation than it should be" Harry reached out towards Hermione's arm but Draco wouldn't let that happen.

He pulled the brunette up so that she was standing right beside him.

"Draco, be reasonable-" Hermione was cut off.

"Hermione… don't you understand?" Draco said in an agonized voice, "I love you."

The Slytherin cradled her face and gazed lovingly at Hermione. He then leaned in and kissed her deeply right in front of the whole entire school.

* * *

All right, so how was that? Like I said earlier, more angst is coming soon. So buckle up before you read the next chapter that I'm going to post! ) Oh yeah by the way, sorry about the whole mishap with the Blake and Blaise. Maybe I shouldn't have made up Blake's name that resembled Blaise's. Too late for that. So SORRY ONCE MORE!

**Reviews** (gotta love them) :

**rizahawkeye21**:well, you know Hermione hasn't really gotten used to Draco yet. But sooner than she thinks, she'll be returning her feelings for him in the public. PSHH who WOULDN'T want a guy to come up behind you and kiss you? It would be amazing? lmao

**xridgegodessx**: NEW REVIEWER! well, if you think that MY writing skills are above my level then you should've read some of my friends' poetry and stuff. It's.. amazing. but she's not on ff so blah. Thanks for the highschool thing, it's just that I might get lost. Yeah.. I'm not really that oriented directionwise, got it from my mum. Okay, now the story, I've started to read over what I wrote before I submit. If I _still_ have problems, well... I'll learn how to fix those later in school.  
**rowlinghermione** : Sorry about the misunderstanding. but the funny thing is that only two people detected it out of six. **ilovefireyredheads** : ANOTHER NEW REVIEWER! HUZZAH! So I'm guessing you're a ronald weasely fan? or you just love red heads. I'm just kidding : Thanks.. I guess. Lol.. the relationship confusion thingie. Not everything is perfect in love...  
**Seldom Darlin** : pshh I hope it's a dream come true. (sigh) Well.. at least it'll give you hope that I'll be writing this story (i'm exaggerating) until I find a guy that likes me back... :( If only they could actually put up to the courage to go up to me and say "Susie, I really like you." (Sigh).. guys.  
**dracoshott28** : hubba hubba.. lmao. Yay.. you liked the ending! I was hoping for that kind of reaction. Lol.. don't worry, I was practically drooling while I was thinking of how draco would look in a tight fitted black t-shirt. yummy. You're the second person who mentioned the mix up with blaise and blake. Sorry for the confusion :( I can't believe I missed that while I was proofreading.  
**ilovefieryredheads** : NEW REVIEWER! WELCOME! Thanks for the review and lol.. the whole relationship confusion thingie? It's very clear that love is never perfect.

All right, now how was that chapter? Yeah, I know... I ended TWO chapters sealed with a kiss. HEY! I like it since it's a good stop point for me.No kissing no ending. Now, we wouldn't that would we.

Until the next chapter

xXx33 susie


	15. Chapter 14

**_DISCLAIMER_: HARRY POTTER DOES _NOT_ BELONG TO ME. IT ONLY BELONGS TO JK ROWLING, WARNER BROS. ALL THOSE OTHER FINANCIAL/PUBLISHERS WHO ACTUALLY DO OWN THEM. I HOWEVER DO OWN THE PLOT. **

**SPECIALLY DEDICATED TO  
dracoshott28  
i take people's whits  
Seldom darlin**

**BECAUSE OF THEIR CONSTANT SUPPORT! **

* * *

Chapter 14

It seemed as if time froze and people that were surrounding them were non-existent. Hermione didn't know how to respond when Draco just professed his love to her once more, but only this time, it was in front of the entire school. Draco Malfoy who had sworn to kill her in their second year, always got the worst out of her, always was vicious towards Harry and Ron, and insulted everyone who wasn't a 'Pureblood', oddly made her heart jump every time she saw him, comforted her after her parents' death, and actually saved her. Even though Draco was a horrible person before this year, he had left a deep impression inside Hermione's heart.

_'Oh Merlin, he's kissing me. He's kissing me in front of the whole bloody school. No, it's not in front of only your classmates, but - oh... that feels good...' _Hermione's thoughts raced.

She immediately pushed her body against his, wrapped her arms around his neck, and then intertwined her fingers into Draco's shaggy blonde hair.

Even though the two Head students were snogging in front of the entire school, the faculty and staff didn't bother to stop them. In fact, Albus Dumbledore had the familiar twinkle in his eye as well as a wide smile, Professor McGonagall was actually wiping a tear from her eye, Snape was smiling in the oddest way possible, Remus looked surprised at first but then smiled warmly at them, and the rest of the professors just sat in shock.

The entire student body went silent, who could blame them? Two students from rivaling houses were snogging right in front of their eyes. That definately gave a new meaning to House unity to everyone.

Ginny Weasely was very aware of the awkward silence in the overcrowded Great Hall, so she whistled and started to clap. Now instead of looking at Draco and Hermione, they looked at Ginny strangely. She had to admit that she looked quite silly being the only one standing up and cheering, but realized, what the hell, it doesn't matter.

When Blaise saw that Ginny was actually supporting them publicly, he decided that he too should be a supportive friend. He whistled and clapped, but only a bit louder. Pansy looked at her friend sitting next to her.

"Hell... he's my friend too."

"WOO! WAY TO GET HER, DRAKE!" she yelled across the hall.

Draco smiled at the support that he was receiving from his friends. Hermione could feel the Slytherin smiling on her lips while they continued kissing. She couldn't help but smile back at him, it was contagious.

Harry sighed and smiled faintly and clapped along with the other few people. The green eyed wizard decided that he should have given up on his friend a long while ago. It was obvious that Hermione was in love with Malfoy as well.

Meanwhile, Ron just had a grumpy look on his face, she was more than **fraternizing** with the **enemy**!

Hermione stopped kissing Draco for a moment; she looked around at everyone who were staring at them with a stunned expression on all of their faces. She hesitantly laughed softly while blushing a bright red. Draco gave her kiss on the lips once more, but it wasn't as long lasting because the brunette prevented him from going any further. Just then, it seemed as if the Slytherin realized what he was doing.

With wide open eyes he said, "He-hermione? I'm so sorry; I never meant to do that. Everything was by impulse and - Gods... I'm such an idiot!"

A part of Hermione was disappointed, why was he sorry? Did he just not stride over here and grabbed her from Harry because he was somewhat jealous? Or was it just an act of impulse, like he had said.

Draco could see the disappointment from Hermione's brown eyes.

"Wh-" Hermione stopped for she was too nervous to complete what she was about to say, but she needed to ask him this.

"Why are you sorry..." she asked softly.

He was completely shocked, wasn't she supposed to be yelling at him for kissing her in front of the entire school? And what was the deal with her ever changing feelings? Just this morning they were having a nice conversation which soon led to kissing, but then she willingly threw herself at him. One of the reasons that he fell in love with her was because she wasn't the type of girl who would do anything in the world for a guy. She was herself around everyone and that was a very big turn on to him. All the girls that he had dated were all fake and shallow, they never had a real personality, and they were jealous over the stupidest things.

"I-uh, Hermione..." Draco gulped and all of the sudden he was extremely aware of the dead silence around them.

Draco glanced sideways; he didn't know how to respond to her. He knew that if he were to say the wrong thing, then the both of them would end up in a fight in front of the entire student body, as well as the professors. So he did what any guy in an uncomfortable position would do. He ran towards the nearest exit, but not without grabbing Hermione's hand and bringing her along with him.

Hermione couldn't really help that she was practically being dragged, Hell... just as long as she received an answer for her question she was fine.

The blonde ran while taking her along with him and stopped at the outside pavilion. Draco led her towards the fountain in the center of the pavilion; he made her sit down on the fountain's bench while he knelt in front of her. Draco took her hands in his, but he couldn't look up at her, no... not yet. He didn't exactly know what to say to her.

_'Why is love so fucking complicated...'_ Draco thought to himself.

Frustrated, Hermione sighed loudly and then slipped her hand out of his.

"Dra- **Malfoy**," she sternly used his last name.

He winced at the harshness of her tone.

"Why are you sorry?"

"Hermione, it's hard to explain."

"Just say whatever you feel like."

Draco sighed,"You just don't understand what I'm going through right now. You give me all these mixed signals that I can't even comprehend. Especially this morning! You practically threw yourself on me, and I know for a fact that you, Hermione, **never** do that in front of any guy."

This time Draco grabbed her hand once more and held it firmly in his hands so that she wouldn't slip away like she did earlier.

He kept on going and watched Hermione's face tense up. He couldn't stop though, it was too late now.

"Do you know how ... **_FRUSTRATING_** it is when you act as if you like me one day or a few minutes and then you go back to hating my very existence! I need to know why you're doing this to me."

In a low and soft voice, Hermione replied, "Not until you answer my question first."

"For Merlin's sake Hermione, I. DON'T. KNOW! What was I supposed to say? That I rather enjoyed snogging you in front of the whole fucking school and we should do it again sometime? What was I supposed to say!" Draco tried hard not to yell, but it wasn't exactly possible.

Hermione clenched her hands tight and practically threw Draco's hands off of hers.

"Sorry that I made you suffer for the past few months. If I had known earlier, then I wouldn't have even spoken to you," she coldly responded without answering Draco's question and got up from the bench.

With tears stinging her eyes, she walked around the kneeling Slytherin and started to walk away. Without a moments delay, Draco stood up fast as lightening and grabbed Hermione's hand. He twisted her around so that she was in front of him, but she turned her head sideways so that she wouldn't be facing him.

Draco grabbed the side of her arms and brought her closer to him. He leaned so that his mouth was right next to her ear.

"I don't care if you never speak or look at me ever again, Hermione," he softly whispered, "but know this, I love you and always will because I can't stop loving you. Hermione, I'd die for you… but I know that no matter what I say or do, you will never accept me. Nevertheless, nothing could possibly deter my love for you."

Hermione shivered from her neck to all the way down to her lower back because of the Draco's close proximity and his hot breath that was tickling her skin. But she didn't respond to Draco's rather shocking statement.

"Hermione...?"

Now how was she supposed to answer to his undying declaration for her this time? A small part of her hated him for doing this to her but another stronger and larger part of her thought that he was actually telling the truth and did care for her. Hermione turned her head to face him and gave him a kiss. Just a small and chaste kiss, but it meant the world to Draco. When she pulled away from him, her cheeks were aflame and had a small smile on her lips.

"I-I hope that was a proper response for your... statement," Hermione muttered while looking down at the floor, but since it wasn't exactly possible because of the close proximity of herself and Draco, she looked at her side.

Draco lifted her chin with his fingers so that she was looking back up at him again. He smirked when Hermione blushed harder when her eyes met his. Hermione couldn't look straight at Draco, so she started to look around him.

"Don't tell me you're afraid to look at me," he teased while leaning closer so that his mouth was brushing against hers.

"Of course not," the brunette replied in a firm voice, but her actions said so otherwise.

Hermione leaned away from the Slytherin so that they wouldn't be so close but never did look at him once.

"Yes, you are," Draco frowned while he disagreed with Hermione.

He then added, "Would you mind telling me why you are so keen on not looking at me?"

"I _am_ looking at you, just not directly at you're face," Hermione corrected.

"Doesn't that sound better," the Slytherin sarcastically muttered under his breath.

"Well, hopefully you aren't embarrassed that you kissed me because I've done far more humiliating things than you have," Draco started to count off, "I sang a love song to you, was turned down about three times by the same girl, professed my love for that same girl in front of the whole school, and plenty more."

The Gryffindor witch bit her lower lip, she had to admit that Draco had been in far more embarrassing situations that she had. So why couldn't she bring herself to look at him without blushing madly?

'**Because you love you him stubborn witch!'**

'_Not you again, well sorry to burst your bubble but this isn't the right time for you to be intruding. So if you don't mind.'_

'**For a smart witch, you sure are daft. One, I am your SUB-CONSCIOUS. Two, you are in love with Draco as much as he is with you.'**

"I… suppose you're right," Hermione murmured.

"All right then," Draco paused and waited for the brunette's response.

"I-We should get to class."

It was obvious that Hermione had wanted to say something else for she had abruptly stopped and started to say something else. Besides, the tone of her voice faltered so that made Draco curious in what she was going to say.

Without a word, the Slytherin just took Hermione's hand and led her back inside Hogwarts. The Gryffindor didn't struggle against his strong grasp, which made Draco at ease.

"… Draco?" Hermione whispered his name.

The blonde loved the way she said his name, as if it was forbidden but still acceptable to say. But it scared him that he was falling deeper and deeper in love with Hermione Granger.

"Yes luv?" Draco bluntly replied.

Hermione was surprised and somewhat pleased that he had answered so affectionately towards her.

"Well, usually I'm not bothered at all about the many rumors that circle around this school that concern a wide variety of topics, but after this morning's incident, I couldn't help but wonder what we'll do-"

"Hermione, what happened during breakfast is not something that I'm ashamed of. I had thought that you wouldn't be embarrassed either," Draco held onto Hermione's hand tighter.

"I'm not; it's just that for others it might come off as shocking. We weren't exactly the best of friends for the past six years and all of the sudden we're kissing in the middle of breakfast. Even the first years know about our 'legendary' quarrels and such. A bunch of rubbish is what I think, but still…"

"So conceited in thinking they would only talk about you," Draco teased, "it doesn't really suit you, you know."

"Arrogant prat," the brunette tried to keep a straight face but failed and chortled softly.

Draco sighed deeply in content while letting go of Hermione's hand, but he immediately wrapped his arm protectively around her petite waist. The Gryffindor looked at him quizzically but decided to ask the blonde something that she considered important.

"Draco?"

"Yes luv?" he answered in the same way as he had previously.

"I- well you see," Hermione breathed slowly and tried to rid of the butterflies that were fluttering about inside her stomach.

"I was wondering what we are now," the brunette shyly asked.

"Well, I'm Draco Malfoy and you're Hermione Granger and we can both do magic," Draco misread the question.

"No, I mean… what are _we_?"

"I'm not so sure what you mean about what we are," Draco muttered but then realization hit him.

"Oh… you mean us as in … _us._" Draco couldn't find the word to correctly define them.

"I-… well, yes."

"I thought it spoke for it self," the Slytherin himself didn't know where they stood either.

"Not so clearly, I'm afraid."

"Can we talk about this after our lessons are over?"

"I don't see why not," Hermione tilted her head sideways so that she was looking at Draco's face.

The Slytherin smiled down at the brunette.

When they arrived to their Transfiguration class, Hermione suddenly realized that her school bag was back in the Great Hall. She didn't really have the chance to go and get it after Draco professed his love for her, kissed her, and then took her outside to the pavilions.

"Oh no, I left my book bag back at breakfast. I have all my things in there and I can't believe I just forgot about it and then realized that I didn't have it until now!" Hermione groaned.

"I'm sure that either Weasely or Potter might have taken it for you," Draco assured her.

"Well, er- I guess you're right about that. If the-"

"Luv," Draco interrupted Hermione, "you need to stop over analyzing everything, understand?"

"I'm not doing it on purpose, it's just who I am. And if you're not comfortable with me being o-"

Draco stopped where he was and interrupted her once more, but only with his lips on hers. It was a quick kiss, but nevertheless stopped Hermione from saying anything more.

"There, that's better," the Slytherin smirked.

Hermione had a flabbergasted look on her face, "I hope you don't count on kissing me every time that I do something that bothers you!"

"Why? Does it bother you in some way?" Draco asked even though he knew the answer to the question. It was definitely a no.

"Well, it would depend on what the outcome of our discussion in the afternoon would be."

The two walked inside the classroom; the Slytherins and the Gryffindors all gaped at their Head students. Draco and Hermione were holding hands and had kissed right before coming inside. Did this mean that they were officially a couple?

"Er…" Hermione bit down on her lower lip.

"You need to stop that," Draco chastised, "it's a nasty habit."

"I can't help that I'm nervous."

"Exactly why are you nervous?"

"If you haven't noticed before, take a look around you," Hermione tersely whispered.

Draco swiftly glanced around the classroom, seeming oblivious to the stares that were pointedly directed towards them.

"I don't see anything out of the ordinary."

"I should have known that you're thick, arrogant head of yours wouldn't be able to notice that they are staring at **us**!" the brunette implied harshly.

"Let them gape around like a bunch of apes, see if I care," Draco brushed the topic aside.

"Sorry that I don't have your overly confident ego," Hermione sardonically responded back.

She pushed Draco's hand away from hers and walked to an empty table that was right beside Ron and Harry. They too were staring with wide open mouths at their friend. Hermione rolled her eyes while sitting down on the chair. She scooted in and placed her hands gently on the table and waited for Professor McGonagall to arrive.

The Slytherin sighed and walked over to Hermione's half empty table. He quietly sat next to the brunette and waited for her to say something.

Being a very stubborn witch that she was well known for, Hermione didn't say a word to Draco. But just to make him squirm around in his seat for awhile, she turned towards Harry and Ron and politely asked if they happened to have her book bag with them.

"Er- yeah," Harry said in a rather strangled tone.

"Right over here," Ron reached down under his table and came up with Hermione's familiar brown messenger bag.

The red head reached over and gave it to his friend.

"Ginny made sure that we got this to you," he hesitantly laughed.

"I'm glad she was **thoughtful** enough to actually remember that I had left my bag," Hermione confidently expressed her feelings to the two boys.

"It's not my fault that you were fra- snogging the enemy," Ron whined.

Harry chuckled silently at Ron's stupidity. It was as if his red headed friend didn't learn his lesson back in their fourth year.

"Why do you _still_ think he's the enemy, Ronald? Voldemort and everything that was dark and sinister in the Wizarding World is gone, well at least a vast majority of it. So give it up already," Hermione was too tired for this conversation with her friend.

"Hermione, just forget about it," Harry tried to placate his fuming friend.

"Oh hush! It's not as if you're leaping for joy about what had happened during breakfast."

Draco had a curious expression on his face, _'Why is Hermione defending me all of the sudden, it's not as if she… no it couldn't be. She can't, it would be something against her moral judgment and other inconsequential things.' _

"Yeah? Well don't you think it's a little odd that you and Malfoy suddenly became so close when for the past six years, in case you've forgotten, he has tormented us all and practically wanted to kill you!"

Hermione grimaced, "Harry, I thought you outgrew your immaturities and petty childish distrust against Draco, but I guess not."

With that, she turned her back around to her friends and concentrated on only setting up her class supplies in front of her.

"Hermione," Draco whispered in a small voice.

She didn't answer him but placed her ink well on the table as well as her quill.

"There was no need in overreacting towards Weasely and Potter," Draco gently placed a warm hand on her arm.

Hermione stopped what she was doing and looked at him with a frown that seemed to be permanently set on her usual soft features.

"I can't help it that they don't understand that I lo-" she held her breath with wide open eyes, Hermione immediately stopped herself from continuing any further.

Luckily, it seemed as if Draco didn't notice this; Hermione could breathe comfortably again. Or so she thought. Draco had indeed heard the small mistake but didn't want Hermione to become upset or uncomfortable about it, so he went on as if he didn't hear her slip of the tongue.

"It's not as if you're virtue is at risk," he drawled. "I wouldn't do anything dishonorable."

Hermione immediately looked at the Slytherin, "What's that supposed to mean!"

There was a sparkle in his silvery-blue eyes that made Hermione want to just jump at him. No, not because she was lusting over him, but because he was driving her mad.

The brunette huffed loudly and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Now, now, can't I joke around with you?"

"Absolutely not," Hermione firmly responded, although she couldn't help that there was a strong tugging on the corners of her mouth.

Draco was about to say something, but found it impossible since Professor McGonagall walked in her classroom and immediately began lecturing as soon as she crossed the threshold.

Beaming at Draco and Hermione sitting together, she began, "Class, I know that we have covered the process of becoming an Animagus. But just as a reminder, if you happen to be interested in becoming an Animagus, you may see me after class or any other free time that I have. Now, we will be covering…"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

After a rather long day of classes, Hermione sighed in relief. Shifting her bag to the other side of her shoulder, she suddenly realized that they, meaning Draco and herself, were going to talk about their 'situation.'

'_Where the hell is he?'_ Hermione's thought raced while she searched the corridors.

Just when she was about to turn around the corner, she bumped into the person that she was looking for all along.

Without saying a word, Draco led her towards his room. While they were walking, he didn't say anything to her, so Hermione kept her lips shut as well.

They arrived in front of the painting and the blonde said the password, granting access to the Head Commons Room. Draco let Hermione go inside first and then followed after her. The brunette walked towards the sofas near the fireplace and sat down comfortably on one of the red ones.

Draco shook his head from side to side.

"Always picked the red one over the green," he muttered to himself.

Hermione was about to protest, but decided against it as soon as Draco settled himself next to her. The Slytherin took her small hands into his and started to run a finger over her soft skin. He looked down and didn't bother to glance up at her.

The room was silent for awhile, when Hermione broke the silence.

She took back her hands and settled them on her lap.

"Draco, we really need to talk about this," Hermione said in an urgent voice.

"In other words, you just want to know if we're together… as a couple, right?" Draco asked bluntly.

"I would be lying if I didn't agree to that."

Draco took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, he didn't exactly plan for a discussion. He had expected Hermione to just embrace the fact that he loved her and would do anything for her while she too began to admit that she did have feelings for him. Too bad that it didn't happen that way, and then everything would have been much easier than this.

Hermione could sense the nervousness coming from Draco. The brunette thought for a moment, she wasn't sure if she should say something first. But when she looked back at the Slytherin who had his eyebrows furrowed and eyes set on concentration, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

"Draco," she meekly called out.

He didn't answer but only looked at her with questioning eyes.

"I… I don't think you should be the one who needs to talk about our situation."

Hermione began to think of backing out, this all changed when the Slytherin suddenly grabbed her hand.

"Well that wouldn't be so fair now, would it?" Draco smirked.

The brunette thought to herself for awhile.

"What are you thinking about?" he softly asked.

She took a deep breath and told him what she was concerned about.

"I… well, in a not so complicated way to explain this, I'm more concerned about my… our past."

Draco opened his mouth to protest, but before a word got out, Hermione quickly continued.

"I know I should be thinking about the future and such, but you have to admit, it's really hard to forget about the past that we have with each other. If you had told me that you loved me when we were in… say… the fourth year, I would have laughed in your face, say that you were mental, or could've just hexed you."

The blonde frowned, making his facial features grow sharper.

"I guess you're right…" Draco was about to tell her that he would have confessed to her then if Krum hadn't taken her to the Yule Ball, but that story was better saved for later.

Hermione continued, "And I know that you're parents aren't the main factor anymore since they don't even remember what they had done in the past. But would they forget their old life long prejudices against those whose bloodline is 'tainted' with Muggle blood?"

She rolled her eyes when she mentioned the word 'tainted.' Draco could only nod slightly towards the brunette.

"That is another concern, but one other thing that does is, well… my," Hermione took a deep breath, "my parents."

Draco began to realize that after her parents' death, he was pressuring her to be his. Yes, he was sympathetic at times, but mainly the other times he was being extremely selfish and didn't think anything about Hermione's situation.

The brunette could sense that he was somewhat uncomfortable after she had mentioned her parents, but she still had to keep on going.

"Not only that, there is some lunatic who is out there that is attempting to murder me. I- I'm sorry Draco, I don't think this is the right time to-"

"Just tell me straightforward that you're rejecting me," Draco replied without any motion.

"I- I wouldn't say it's a rejection, just a mome-"

"No." He released his hold on Hermione's hand and looked to his side facing away from the brunette. "Just tell me that we can't be together, it's a better way to end this… for me."

"What!" Hermione was flabbergasted. How could he just give up so easily on her? If he really did love her then he wouldn't just throw her away immediately.

"Look, it's obvious that you aren't exactly ready and willing to be with me… ever. So why not end it now and forget that this ever happened," Draco tersely demanded.

The brunette rolled her eyes while exhaling out in an annoyed manner and just got up from the couch. She walked towards the entrance way, but just before leaving, she turned around and glared at the Slytherin.

"If you really loved me then you wouldn't give up so easily." With that, Hermione left immediately.

Draco leaned back and closed his eyes while taking a deep breath, "I didn't give you up as effortlessly as you thought I did. I let you go because it was the right thing to do. I love you, Hermione, more than you can ever imagine."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The brunette Gryffindor ran back to her room with a tear-stained face. She couldn't believe that he just left her, just like that. How could he!

With angry thoughts, through clenched teeth she hissed the password and went inside her room. Once she was inside, she found that Ginny, Harry, and Ron were in her room, sitting on her bed.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked in a surprised tone while trying to quickly brush her tears away.

It was a vain attempt to hide her tears, for her friends immediately noticed it when she came in.

"Hermione, what happened?" Ginny asked in a concerned voice.

"I bet on my broomstick that it was Malfoy!" Ron had a disgusted look on his face.

Harry was tense; he couldn't believe that he let Hermione leave with Malfoy.

"It's nothing, seriously," Hermione tried to brush off the concern just as she had brushed away her tears.

"Hermione, it looks as if it is something serious," Ginny quietly replied.

"It's none of your concern," the brunette coldly retorted.

This remark made Harry mad, the anger that was pent up finally released.

"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT IT'S NONE OF OUR BLOODY CONCERN, HERMIONE? WE KNOW THAT YOU WERE WITH MALFOY SO WHEN YOU COME BACK HERE WITH TEARS HOW ELSE ARE WE SUPPOSED TO REACT!"

Hermione glared at the green eyed wizard, "Get out."

"Hermione," he began to say in a softer tone, "just te-"

"I said, **GET OUT**!"

In defeat, Harry walked out of the room quickly while Ron followed after. Ginny was about to leave, but not without saying anything first.

"He was just concerned, Hermione. It's so hard for him to see you with Draco, and just when he had come to terms that you chose Draco over him, you come in here crying."

"I hadn't expected all of you to be here in my room," the brunette muttered.

"In case you've forgotten, we are your friends. After you and Malfoy had quite a snog during breakfast, we wanted to know what was going on between the two of you. Obviously, it's not going so well." Ginny sighed and waited for Hermione to say something.

There was only silence; just when the red head started to walk to the door, Hermione stopped her before she left.

"Gin, you wouldn't mind staying here tonight, would you?"

"Are you sure?"

"I think I need someone to talk to right now…"

Ginny nodded and walked back over towards Hermione and gave her friend a warm hug while a few more tears started to roll down her cheeks.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Meanwhile, outside of the Room of Requirements, there was a stout, hooded and cloaked figure hiding behind a tall statue. He was there when Potter and his two red headed friends walked into her room and we was still there when she arrived at her room. And he now he just saw Potter and Weasely leave, but where was the younger one?

He hissed silently to himself, "Strix Struma, eh? Granger, I told you to watch out, but I'm guessing you aren't taking enough precaution to my warnings. We'll see about that this time…"

With a low chuckle, the cloaked figure glided away from his hiding place.

* * *

Sorry for the wait, but you have to give me some time to actually write the chapter. I don't have everything done, I'm just starting on the next chapter. I realize that it's a bad idea to do something like that, so for the next stories that I plan on writing, it will be all done beforehand. Ya'll will just have to hang on and wait patiently for the next installments if you please. Thanks.

Well, I'm extremely happy that my story has received over 100 reviews. You guys do NOT know how much this means to me. Thank you sooooo much!

**Reviews**:

**rizahawkeye21** : well... the friendly arguements did go slightly ehh... poor draco. I just want to go up to him imaginatively and give him a huge hug (  
**dracoshott28**: yeah, I sort of feel sorry for Harry that he was just pushed aside, but you have to admit it's a very Malfoy thing to do. He wouldn't give a shit if Harry died or something, I don't know.  
**xridgegodessx**: yessss, no spelling mistakes! how about this one? I love how you enjoyed that chapter. Can you just imagine Draco striding over to Hermione and kissing her in front of the whole entire school? And all because he was jealous over a small friendly hug. Acutally, now I'm more comfortable about going to highschool. Thanks )  
**Mrs. St. John Allerdyce:** Why, I have to say that it's a NEW REVIEWER! WELCOME:) I'm very very glad that you checked this story out, I hope that you will stick with this story until it's done. THANKS!  
**ilovefireyredheads**: The story will somewhat end with a kiss.. I guess. But how else could it end? Uh oh.. WARNING! NEXT CHAPTER WILL HOLD : ANGST ANGST ANGST!  
**babiijorx0** : ANOTHER NEW REVIEWER! WOOOO! Thanks for looking into this story, I appreciate it very much. Yeah, I love how Draco is really protective over her also P  
**DBZfanawlways**: YESS! We're on a roooooll! AND ANOTHER REVIEWER! Thanks so much for reading this story. Yeah, it is pointless to review on every chapter, so kudos to you for not doing so. And defiantely, I hate it also when Draco and Hermione are immediately in love with each other after the third chapter or something.  
**princess-emerelda: **I appreciate it very much that this is your favorite fanfiction story. Oh yeah.. uhhh NEW REVIEWER! It seriously means a lot to me for the reviews that my story receives. Sorry that Pansy and Blaise are so annoying, you know, it's not their fault that they are Draco's friends. I tried updating as fast as I could, but to tell you beforehand, the next chapter might take awhile.  
**i take people's whits**: I love being evil.. mwah hahaha. sorry but like I said to princess emerelda, you might have to wait longer for the next chapter. it's going to be angsty and will definately take some time.  
**AliasLostOc2005**: Once more A NEW REVIEWER! WELCOMEEE! Sorry that it was too short, I tried making it longer for you! You're answer to your question on who Hermione chooses is included in this chapter.

IT'S REALLY NICE TO KNOW THAT PEOPLE ARE ENJOYING THIS STORY. THE SUPPORT THAT YOU GUYS ARE GIVING ME REALLY PUSHES ME TO WRITE MORE. Tell you what, I'll give you a deadline, I will try and post a new chapter by... the thirty first. If I don't manage to do so, I'm very very sorry!

Until next time...

xXx33 Susie


	16. Chapter 15

**_DISCLAIMER!_** : **I do not own anything related to Harry Potter except for the plots that I come up with in my mind! **

* * *

Chapter 15 

After the big fight with Hermione, Draco was leaning back on his couch. He had his eyes closed and was breathing slowly. He made an effort to forget about everything that had happened, and soon enough he fell into a deep slumber.

Draco started to dream about Hermione next to him, she too was sleeping beside him and her soft breath was tickling his side.

'_Draco looked around him and found out that he was in a forest green painted room with light silver and green covers. _

"_Hermione…"_

_Just as he thought of her name, he heard something move beside him. He looked down to find her slumbering figure that was nestled next to him. The Slytherin smiled while he started to wrap his arm around her. It seemed as if he woke her up, because Hermione's eyes suddenly were wide open. Her loud scream pierced the silence that had surrounded them. And as soon as she had screamed, the whole entire bedroom dissolved and transformed into something gruesome. _

_Suddenly, they were in a stone walled room with various forms of vicious murdering weapons. No longer was Hermione next to Draco, but in a cage where her clothes were tattered and bloody. _

"_HERMIONE!" he screamed, but no words came out of his mouth._

_She didn't even notice that the blonde was right in front her, attempting to curse the cage to open. He immediately stopped when he heard a low cackle behind him. Draco quickly turned around to face –'_

Draco woke up in cold sweat and was panting heavily. He quickly scanned the room to make sure that he had dreamt the whole ordeal and that Hermione was not in a cage. While trying to convince himself, he noticed that dinner was over and had slept for almost three hours.

"It's just a dream. Hermione's fine, she's perfectly fine in her room. She's probably with Weaselette talking shit about me. Yeah… that's what she's doing," Draco tried to persuade himself.

"To hell with that," the Slytherin muttered to himself and stood up from the couch.

He ran out of the room to go and find out if Hermione was okay, it didn't matter if they were in an argument and that she didn't want to speak to him. He just needed to know that she was safe and okay.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Hermione and Ginny didn't go to the Great Hall for dinner; Ginny figured that they should just have it in her friend's room. It wasn't called the Room of Requirements for nothing.

The two witches were sitting on the floor with pillows surrounding them. They had draped red veils around them and made it look like a gypsy's tent. Scented candles were floating in a safe distance from them, only a few were lit so the smell wouldn't be so overpowering. Ginny was the mastermind of this scheme, even if she didn't like it at all, Hermione just went along with it. The red head promised her that the environment that they were in would help Hermione with her feelings and make her feel comfortable.

"Okay Gin, I think that's enough pillows," Hermione said while examining the layer of pillows on her floor.

"Nope, not yet," Ginny replied without looking up, she was busy perfecting the floor.

"Ginny, I can't even see the ground!"

"That's the whole point, Hermione! Do you want to sit on a hard, cold, and uncomfortable floor while talking? I don't think so," the red headed witch asked.

Hermione just laughed at Ginny's strong determination in making her room into a totally different place.

"You know Gin," Hermione suddenly began to realize, "we could've just thought up of what we wanted the room to look like. I mean, I do live in the Room of Requirements, don't I?"

Ginny froze and the brunette laughed.

The red headed witch stiffly replied, "Well, it's much more fun if we do it ourselves than doing it by magic and such."

"Just admit that you forgot about it," Hermione poked her friend on the arm.

Hermione didn't realize how comforting it felt to have Ginny here with her. She could just forget about all the bad things that had happened to her earlier.

With a content sigh, Ginny rolled down on the pillows.

"All right Hermione, now just roll around the floor or whatever you wish!" she demanded.

The brunette Gryffindor just sat down on the floor next to her friend who was sprawled out on the ground.

"Right… Not a good time for rolling," Ginny muttered when she realized that Hermione's face was somber once more. "All right, well, you know the drill, Hermione. Tell all or else!"

Hermione sighed and took a pillow in her arms and started to play with the red tassels that were formed around it, "Ginny… it's really complicated in a way, but then it's not."

"Hmm… Well, if you plan on telling me then I could judge whether or not its complicated or not. Easy as that! Now come on, I'm waiting!"

"So eager in listening to my horrible life all the time, well here it goes," Hermione rolled her eyes.

"After Draco and I kissed during breakfast, he told me that he was sorry for kissing me. I asked him why he was sorry, but he didn't say anything and just rushed me out of the Great Hall. You remember that, right?"

"Yeah..." Ginny waited for the rest of the story.

"Well, he took me out to the pavilion outside and had an argument," Hermione looked away, "I … I demanded to know why he was sorry for kissing me in front of the school. But then he completely switches the subject and asks me why I have ever-changing feelings towards him. He finally told me that I frustrated him. I was about to leave when he grabbed me and made an undying declaration for me. I remember being so surprised…" the brunette looked dazed for a moment.

"What did he say! I mean, how did he say it?" the red headed witch demanded to know.

Hermione started to blush a bright red, "It's kind of embarrassing, really."

"Hermione!" Ginny whined loudly.

The brunette started to think about what he had said; when she got the words she sighed deeply and told her friend.

"I don't care if you never speak or look at me ever again, Hermione. But know this, I love you and always will because I can't stop loving you. Hermione, I'd die for you… but I know that no matter what I say or do, you will never accept me. Nevertheless, nothing could possibly deter my love for you."

"That is _so_ romantic!" the red head exclaimed. "And what did you do after he told you that he would _die_ for you?"

Hermione bit her lower lip, and then muttered incoherently, "Ikissedhim."

"Sorry," Ginny had a confused look on her face, "what did you say?"

"Ikissedhim."

"Could you say that slowly?"

Hermione groaned and slowly said, "I. Kissed. Him."

"No!" Ginny immediately sat straight up with a shocked expression on her face.

"Yeah… well I did."

"Hermione do you know what this means!" Ginny started to jump up and down in an excited manner.

"Um… you're having a coronary?"

"NO!" her friend shouted, "It means that you accepted his declaration and now you two are together!"

"Not anymore," Hermione bitterly replied.

"What happened?" Ginny asked in a concerned voice.

"We went to class and on the way I asked him what we were. I needed to know if we were together or not. So he told me that we were going to talk about it after classes were over. When we got to Transfiguration, I realized – oh yeah! Thanks Gin, for giving my bag to Ron and Harry."

"No problem, now keep on going."

Hermione scowled but continued with her story, "Well, we sat together but I forgot why I was mad at him. Oh right, well, we kind of kissed right before coming in and I'm guessing all of them saw us kissing. When we came inside they were all staring; I was embarrassed, but _he _wasn't. What an arrogant prat."

Even if she had insulted him once more, Hermione couldn't help but smile at what had happened earlier. Ginny shook her head, how could a witch so smart yet be so daft?

"Is that it?" Ginny asked.

"No…" Hermione thought back, "After class, I bumped into him and without a word he took me back to his room. We talked… kind of."

"What do you mean 'kind of'?"

Hermione knew that she was a horrible liar so she just told her the flat out truth, "I told him that I was concerned about our past, his parents, and my parents."

"Well, that's no bad," the red headed replied.

"No, it was bad," Hermione lowered her head.

Ginny didn't reply but looked at her questioningly.

"I was telling him that I felt as if it wasn't the right time to be together, but he immediately thought that as rejection."

"That **_is_** rejection, Hermione," Ginny frowned. "But I'm guessing that there were more exchanging of words that made you come back crying."

"He told me to forget about everything that had happened between us," Hermione sobbed.

"That was stupid, Hermione! Why did you tell him that it wasn't the right time! I know for a fact that you two belong together. I'm sure of it! Do you realize how he must feel right now? At first you accepted his love for you but later you just tore out his heart and stomped on it right in front of him. Now I can see why he told you that you frustrate him!"

"Ginny!"

"No, Hermione. That was just wrong for you to do, now I **DEMAND** that you go back to him and tell him that you are sorry!" Ginny exclaimed.

"It's not that easy for me," Hermione admitted.

"HERMIONE!" someone yelled outside.

The door of Hermione's room bursted open and revealed a concerned Draco Malfoy. He was panting heavily and placed his hands on the sides of the doorway to support him.

"Hermione," he said achingly.

The brunette immediately jumped up from shock. Hermione was surprised that Draco came over here just when Ginny had told her to tell him that she was sorry.

"I-I'm sorry," Hermione whispered apologetically.

Draco took it the wrong way and thought that Hermione was turning him away once again. So he strided over to the brunette and grabbed her. Actually, he fell down to his knees when he was in front of her and hugged her tightly around her waist.

"Hermione, don't do this to me," the Slytherin groaned, "I love you and I thought you loved me too!"

She slowly knelt down on her knees and leaned in and whispered in his ear, "I still do…"

The Slytherin pulled away from her with an incredulous look on his face.

"You do?" he hesitantly asked.

No matter what Hermione would have said probably wouldn't convince him. So she quickly leaned in and pressed her lips on his. Hermione then nestled her head in the hollow area of his shoulder and neck.

"Hermione," he said in a low and hoarse voice.

She looked up at him when Draco hungrily took her lips to his while he quickly clenched her hair. Hermione eagerly opened her mouth as she wove her arms around his neck and moaned in his mouth.

Ginny began to smile at first, but when she realized that it was becoming more intimate then a simple kiss, she crept out of Hermione's room.

The two didn't realize that Ginny left them; they were too busy with each other.

Draco slowly guided Hermione down on the floor. She shifted around to get in a comfortable position and unknowingly grinded against him. He groaned and started to kiss her at a faster rate. His hands unclenched her dark brown curls and slid his arms around her waist.

The blonde dropped his head to kiss Hermione on the neck and then he slowly moved up to her ear. While he did so, his hands started to work on her buttons on her blouse. As soon as he undid all of the buttons, Hermione shrugged it off her shoulders and threaded her fingers into his blonde hair.

As soon as Hermione's blouse was discarded somewhere, he cupped her breasts and slowly kneaded them. Hermione arched her back while moaning deeply in his mouth. She withdrew her fingers in his hair and started to pull Draco's t-shirt over his head. There was some struggle causing her to growl. Draco chuckled and easily pulled the offending piece of garment over his head. Hermione gasped at Draco's finely sculptured chest. The Slytherin couldn't help but smirk at her reaction.

He overtook her lips once more and pressed his body against hers. Hermione could feel something brush against her leg, but she didn't think anything of it. Until she felt something jutting into her thigh did she realize that this was going too far.

"Draco," she attempted to say in a stern tone, but ended up moaning.

Draco was becoming even more aroused and left his lips on Hermione and slowly traveled down to the valley between her breasts.

"Draco," Hermione panted, "this is getting too far."

The Slytherin still didn't realize what Hermione was saying.

"Draco, I'm notready to do this," the brunette said loudly.

The Slytherin paused for a moment; he looked down at her and saw that Hermione looked quite uncomfortable.

"What's wrong, luv?" he brushed away her hair from her forehead.

Hermione glanced down towards his pants and the other part of Draco that was quite obviously erect.

"… Oh."

Draco jumped up from her and turned his back towards her.

"You don't mind if I take a quick shower, do you?" his voice was strained.

"Go ahead." Hermione blushed deeply while trying hard not to laugh.

The Slytherin immediately rushed into her bathroom. He quickly closed the door and took his pants off and boxers off swiftly. Draco jumped in the shower and turned the faucets to let the water pour over him. The warm water didn't do any good to him so he had a very cold shower.

Outside of the bathroom, Hermione couldn't help but laugh quietly at what had happened. It was embarrassing, but she had to admit that it was funny.

"Shit!" Draco yelled in frustration.

Hermione wondered what was going on in her bathroom, but then again, she didn't really want to find out. The brunette got up and walked over to her bed and snuggled into her covers. Now that she was alone in her room for the moment, she felt so naked without her shirt. Hermione got up, quickly threw on her blouse and immediately tucked the covers up to her chin while looking up at the ceiling with quite a flushed face.

After Draco's 'problem' was fixed, he quickly dried himself and put on his boxers but left his pants behind.

He walked out of the bathroom to find Hermione in her bed with covers up to her chin. She was looking up at the ceiling and didn't seem to notice him. Draco ambled towards Hermione and when he reached her large bed, he sat down on it which caused the bed to slightly dip low from the new weight added on.

"Isn't it a little hot in here to be under the covers?" Draco teased while getting in the covers as well.

Hermione didn't say a word but shook her head side to side.

"All right, if you don't plan on talking, then hopefully you won't mind me doing this," Draco snuggled himself next to Hermione. He kissed her on the cheek and wrapped his arms around her. Draco pulled her towards his bare chest and kissed her affectionately on her forehead.

"I love you, Hermione," he softly whispered.

Hermione was so close in saying that she loved him as well, but decided to pretend as if she fell asleep.

Draco sighed when he noticed that Hermione had closed her eyes and said nothing more while she was brought closer towards him.

'_It's all right that you're not ready to tell me your true feelings, Hermione. I can wait…'_

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Ginny walked back to the Gryffindor Common Room with a small smile on her face. Although she had to admit that she was quite disturbed when she saw Draco and Hermione being intimate in front of her. The red headed witch shuddered slightly but nevertheless, she was happy for them.

"Ginny," someone whispered behind her.

The Gryffindor witch jumped up from shock but she immediately turned around to find that it was only Neville.

"Ginny," he muttered.

"Neville, you scared me! What are you doing, skulking around at night?" she teased.

"I'm _not_ skulking!" Neville harshly responded while grabbing her arm tightly.

"What are you **doing**!" Ginny threw off his arm on her.

"I for one think that you have been spending too much time with that Zabini," he hissed.

"I thought we've been over this before, we're on a break. Which means that I'm allowed to see other people?" Ginny tried to explain calmly.

"When did we talk about this," Neville seemed oblivious of the break that his 'girlfriend' was talking about, but then there was something sinister about the way he was acting towards her.

"I don't need to talk to you right now, bye."

Ginny Weasely walked away from him and quickly started to head towards the Gryffindor Tower. Neville easily caught up with her and roughly shoved her to the wall.

"Get away from me, you bastard!" Ginny screamed in disgust.

"Don't deny me, Ginny. You know that we'll be together, forever. Ron even said it was fine," Neville grabbed her shoulders and shook her.

"HELP ME! SOMEONE, PLEASE!" the red headed witch cried out loud.

"Nobody is going to come and help you, Ginny," the Gryffindor boy said in a menacing tone.

"Ginny?" someone said while turning around the corner.

It was none other than Blaise and he had a questioning look on his face.

"What's going on, Ginny?"

"Zabini, this is none of your concern," Neville growled.

The Slytherin strided towards the two Gryffindors and then stopped right in front of the red headed witch.

"If it concerns Ginny, it definitely concerns me," he sneered.

With that, he grabbed Ginny's hand and started to pull her away from the rather obsessive git.

"Where are you taking her!" Neville demanded to know.

"It's none of your concern, Longbottom. Go back to your Common Room or something," Blaise whirled his hand in disinterest.

Ginny didn't make a sound after Blaise had arrived but she was quite relieved that he was there. However, when Neville grabbed her other free hand, she squeaked in surprise.

When Blaise realized that someone was holding Ginny in place, he turned around to find Longbottom with a rather determined look on his face.

"Just let her go and get it through your thick head that she wants to get away from you."

The Slytherin was never aware of their past together, Blaise had always figured that Ginny had a higher taste in men.

"If she never liked me, then care to explain why she's my girlfriend?"

The Slytherin narrowed his eyes into thin slits.

"Liar," he hissed.

"Go on then Ginny, tell him that we are a couple," Neville said in a haughty tone.

"Neville," she whispered, "I told you before that we were on a break. If you can't accept this, then I'm just going to have to let you go."

Neville didn't say a word, but his red face was an open book. He was mad, **_really_** mad.

"Woah, wait. Ginny, you went out with this Neanderthal!" Blaise was flabbergasted.

"Sadly," she sneered while rolling her eyes.

"That's… you know what, some people make mistakes in their life. I'll let this pass."

Ginny sighed and started to walk away from the Gryffindor boy with Blaise. But Neville wasn't going to let that Slytherin just steal his girl.

"Oy! Zabini!" Neville yelled.

Blaise rolled his blue eyes and turned around slowly to only become hit strongly on the chin. With this sort of impact, he sprawled on the floor.

The Slytherin got up while rubbing his chin, "Fuck."

"What the hell was that for, Longbottom?"

"THAT was for stealing my girl!" And then the Gryffindor flew at Blaise.

The ebony haired wizard was much faster for that and quickly dodged the first blow. Now it was Neville's turn to hit to floor because Blaise had kicked him on the back when Neville had missed his target.

The Gryffindor landed with a soft thud but a sickening crack was heard throughout the hall.

With wide open eyes, Ginny gasped audibly. Blaise shook his head at Neville who was still on the floor. He turned his back towards the pitiful sight; it was bad idea because as soon as he had turned around, Neville jumped up from the floor and lunged at the Slytherin.

The two hit the floor unceremoniously and soon enough punches were thrown around everywhere while they started to roll around on the floor trying to obtain the higher position in the fight.

Ginny was in panic, she didn't know what to do. The only thing that she thought of was to petrify the two of them and just unfreeze Blaise while leaving Neville behind. It did sound like a good idea to her, so with an unsteady grasp on her wand, she said in a shaky tone, "_Petrificus Totalus!"_

Blaise and Neville immediately froze, and Ginny started to walk hesitantly towards them. The Slytherin was on top of Neville and his arm was lifted mid-air, about to hit the Gryffindor below him. The red head placed her hands on his arms and struggled to set him free. When he finally did come loose, Blaise tumbled onto the carpeted floor. With a flick of the wrist and a swish of a wand, he was unfrozen and stood up.

Without thinking of his injuries, Blaise walked over to Ginny and asked, "Are you hurt? Did that bastard do anything to you!"

The witch shook her head side to side; Blaise sighed in relief.

"I thought that had hurt you or worse," he admitted.

"Za-Blaise, you should be getting to the Hospital Wing. I'll go with you if you want," Ginny offered.

"I'm fine," was his reply, but he took Ginny's hand and smiled.

Even if Blaise had a black eye and a few scratches on his face, Ginny couldn't help but think how handsome he was. While they were leaving, Blaise let go of her hand and slipped it around her waist. Ginny smiled and leaned in to place her head on his shoulder. Without a second thought, they left Neville behind.

'_Ginny, I swear that I **will**_ _make you mine once more. Just as soon Zabini is out of the picture, we'll be together forever.'_

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor Tower, Harry and Ron were playing Exploding Snap. They had played about five games and ever single one of them, Harry lost.

"Harry," Ron said while placing his last card on the table which exploded rather loudly and ended the game, "I can't help but feel that you're not yourself right now. I mean, I know that you aren't that much of a great player, no offense, but you seem really off."

Harry didn't respond but just started to set up another game.

Ron sighed and said, "Harry, just tell me what's going on. When you're all silent like that, I feel as if I'm talking to a walking time bomb.

"You want the truth, Ron?" Harry asked.

Without waiting for his friend's response, Harry started to mutter, "It's all because of Malfoy. If he hadn't stepped through that fucking door at Flourish and Blotts that day, then this wouldn't have ever happened. Out of all the bloody girls in this school, why did he have to choose Hermione, WHY?"

The nearby students jumped up when Harry suddenly yelled out loud.

"Mate, calm down; I'm not trying to be on his side or anything, but you can't really choose on who you plan on liking. It just… happens, you know?" Ron suddenly became somber.

"But you know, the worst thing is, she played me. Just like that son of a bitch Malfoy did, she played me," Harry bitterly replied.

Ron frowned, "Harry, didn't I ask you earlier if you still had feelings for Hermione? You didn't really tell me everything, did you…?"

Harry didn't say a word but just stared at the Exploding Snap cards that were settled in front of them.

It was silent for a moment, until Lavender came up to Ron and asked, "Ron, do you know where Ginny is? I've been looking for her everywhere here."

"She's with Hermione," Ron smiled at his girlfriend.

"Oh… all right then," giving him a kiss on the cheek, she bounded upstairs.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Blaise and Ginny started to walk towards the Hospital Wing, when the blue eyed Slytherin told her, "I was really worried, you know. When I came around that corner and saw you caged between Longbottom."

The red head blushed, "I could've handled it myself."

Blaise didn't say anything, but just raised one of his eyebrows, "Oh really?"

"Definitely," Ginny smiled flirtatiously.

"So, if I took you back to Longbottom would you be able to take him on?"

"What, you don't believe me?" the red head raised an eyebrow.

"I have my reasons," Blaise pulled her closer to him, "So, what's the deal with you and Longbottom anyways? You _must_ have a good explanation for going out with him."

Ginny frowned while pushing her away from him, "I don't really want to talk about it."

The Slytherin had a concerned look on his face, "Did he hurt you!"

"For the last time, NO, he did not hurt me. I'll see you later, Blaise."

With that, Ginny walked away from him, but he wasn't going to let her leave like that.

"I don't think so. You're coming with me," Blaise ordered while grabbing a hold of her hand.

He started to think about taking her back to the Slytherin's Common Room, but thought that it wouldn't be such a great idea. The only place that he could think of was Draco's place.

When they arrived in front of the painting, the sun argued with Blaise for awhile.

"I told you, THEY AREN'T AVAILABLE!" the sun yelled.

"What are you talking about they aren't available! They aren't even in the bloody room!" Blaise argued back.

"Just say the password, dear," the moon sighed.

"Helios," the Slytherin snarled.

Ginny just looked at Blaise and the painting fighting with a bemused look on her face.

Once they were inside the room, the red head pushed herself away from Blaise once more.

"What are we doing here?"

"I couldn't just leave you in the Gryffindor Tower. What if Longbottom came back seeking revenge," he said with a hint of humor.

"And you're expecting me to stay here… with you," Ginny looked at the Slytherin disbelievingly.

"I never said that I was staying," Blaise raised his eyebrow, "unless you want me to."

"Don't push it Zabini," she rolled her eyes and started to head towards the couch.

Ginny flopped on one of the red couches and started to settle herself in a comfortable position.

"I hope you're not planning to sleep on _that_."

"Where I sleep shouldn't concern you," Ginny replied while she closed her eyes.

Ignoring the witch's comment, he went on, "There are two great rooms upstairs that are currently not in use, and you're just going to sleep on the couch? You are unbelievable."

"Whatever…" Ginny whispered and soon fell into deep sleep.

'_Is she asleep already?' _Blaise thought to himself while walking towards the slumbering red head.

"Humph… yup… she _is_ asleep."

With that, Blaise scooped her up into his arms and started to walk upstairs. Once he reached the top of the stairs, he started to head towards Hermione's room, but decided that it was a bad idea. So he headed over to his friend's room. Blaise walked in and settled her inside the bed sheets.

"Mmmm," Ginny groaned and flipped over on her stomach.

The Slytherin smiled and took out his wand. He pointed towards the couch in the corner and moved it in front of the bed. Blaise jumped on it and fell asleep while rethinking about what had happened that night.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

While Hermione was sleeping soundly against Draco, the Slytherin was still quite awake and was looking down at the brunette.

He sighed softly, not wanting to wake her up. Draco brushed a stray curl away from her face.

"Draco?" Hermione asked groggily.

The blonde froze, "Sorry luv, did I wake you?"

"No, you didn't," the Gryffindor stretched her arms and yawned. "But what are you doing up right now?"

"Couldn't sleep," he admitted.

"Why?" Hermione snuggled closer into him.

Instead of answering, he quickly changed the subject, "So… the ball is next week. Do you know what you're wearing?"

"No, not really," Hermione knew that Draco was avoiding that meaningless topic, but decided not to get into it, "all I know for certain is that it has to be medieval. What about you? Don't you have to wear tights or something?"

"I think I'll pass on the tights, and maybe the whole 'medieval' style. But don't worry," he stopped her from arguing, "I promise that it's something related to our theme."

"So where do you want to meet?" Hermione was slowly getting excited about going to the dance with Draco.

"I'll go over to your room, I don't want some random guy to whisk you away from me," Draco teased.

The Gryffindor didn't say anything, but secretly smiled. She rested her head against the blonde's shoulder.

Even though Hermione didn't realize it, she was beginning to grow accustomed to having Draco so close too her heart.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The next morning, Hermione and Draco were up a little late.

"Hermione!" Draco yelled while looking through the pillows on the floor, "do you know where my clothes are?"

Hermione, who was in the bathroom, brushing her teeth, blushed. She immediately thought about last night and how close they were to having sex. The Gryffindor knew that she wasn't ready yet, but her body certainly thought so otherwise.

"It's in here," she yelled back while looking at his shirt and pants next to her.

The brunette grabbed a towel, dried her face and then gripped her wand that was on the other side of the sink and pointed at the clothes.

"_Scourgify."_

Draco walked in the bathroom with only his boxers on. The witch quickly blinked a few times, trying to get rid of the image of his well toned body in mind. It didn't exactly work, so she looked at his clothes.

"Over here," Hermione pointed the bundle of clothes next to her.

He grabbed his clothes and muttered, "Thanks," while kissing her on the cheek.

"N-no problem," she murmured while walking out of the bathroom and nearly tripping over the threshold.

The Slytherin smirked and then called out, "Hope you didn't hurt yourself!"

"Shit!" she hissed while grabbing her right foot.

"Are you all right?" this time, Draco said in a concerned voice.

"FINE!" the brunette huffed.

The blonde smiled while brushing his teeth. After, he started to put on his clothes, but then he stopped because he noticed that something was different. They should have been all wrinkly and such, but his t-shirt and pants were quite clean.

'_Hermione…'_ he thought while beaming at the thought.

He zipped up his pants and started to walk out the bathroom while buttoning his shirt.

Hermione was zipping up her skirt and was about to clean up her room when she noticed that Draco was behind her.

"Thanks," he smiled while leaning over her shoulder to give her a small kiss on the cheek once more.

"For what?" the brunette queried.

"You're too modest," Draco mumbled in her hair while wrapping his arms around her waist.

Hermione sighed softly while the Slytherin started to rock them sideways.

"Draco?"

"Hmm?"

"I didn't mean what I had said yesterday, I'm sorry," she whispered.

Draco didn't say anything back for awhile which only made Hermione concerned.

"Dr-"

"Why did you think that we couldn't be together, Hermione?"

"I… I don't know."

The two were silent while the blonde was still rocking them side to side.

"Draco?"

"Yes luv?"

"Were you serious when you told me to forget about everything?"

"It doesn't matter now, does it?"

He wanted to forget that that had happened. Right now, he was more eager on looking forward to the future… their future.

Hermione shook her head in agreement, "I guess you're right."

"I'm always right," he replied confidently.

"Of course you're always right, you're Draco Malfoy," the brunette sarcastically responded.

Draco smirked, "I think we should be heading towards the Great Hall, but I have to go and get my things. Is that okay with you?"

Hermione nodded and squirmed her way out of his grasp; she grabbed her book and started to head out. The Slytherin smiled widely and followed after her.

Before Draco closed the door, Hermione swished her wand and all the pillows vanished as well as the burned out candles and the veils.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Meanwhile, in the Head's Room, Ginny woke up stretching and yawning. While she raised her arms above her head, she looked to her side and jumped up.

'_What the hell is he doing here! Wait…' _Ginny looked around, _'Where the hell am I?'_

Blaise was laid out on a couch with his arms crossed on his chest. She did a double take when she saw the enormous black eye that he had on his left eye.

The red haired witch stepped out of the bed when she finally noticed that the bed sheets were green.

"Oh. Shit."

Ginny immediately thought that she was in the Slytherin's rooms when she saw all the Slytherin décor around her.

'_Out of all the places, WHY THE HELL DID HE BRING ME HERE!'_

The Slytherin groaned and flipped over to his side, facing the couch. While the witch immediately froze, "What if he wakes up? What am I going to do then! DAMN IT!"

That definitely woke him up.

"Something wrong?" Blaise asked groggily while rubbing his eyes.

"No," she squeaked while immediately sitting back down on the bed.

The ebony haired wizard sat up with his eyes closed.

"What time is it?"

"I… er- … dunno?"

The Slytherin noticed that Ginny was being jumpy, so he explained while opening his eyes, "If you think you're somewhere down in the Slytherin rooms, think again. We're in Draco's room."

"Oh, right…"

Blaise squinted at the clock in the corner, it was somewhere around eight fifteen. He jumped out of the couch but then fell back on it.

"That hurt," he mumbled while rubbing his sides.

Ginny stood back up and walked over to Blaise. She sat down next to him; there wasn't that much room, so she was close to him.

The Slytherin looked at her sideways and asked, "Sleep well?"

She nodded in response and then lifted her hand. Ginny hesitantly reached out to his face, her hands shaking slightly, she faintly traced the strong features of his face. In response, the Slytherin closed his eyes and rubbed the side of his face against her hand.

The red head slowly leaned in while steadying her hand on one side of Blaise's face. Ginny placed her soft lips on his, which caused Blaise to open his eyes wide open. He didn't waste time, ask questions or move away from her, instead, he wrapped his arms around her waist and tenderly pushed her down on the couch.

Blaise brushed his tongue gently on her bottom lip. She opened her mouth quickly and wrapped her arms around his neck and pushed him closer to her.

He started to move into a much more comfortable position, but suddenly, the door bursted wide open. The two immediately froze, the only people to come in the room was Draco or Pansy. Harry and Ron had know need to come in here anymore since Hermione moved to another room, but nevertheless, they held their breaths in fear of being caught.

"Draco, you have a messy room," Hermione teased while looking at the unmade bed and the couch that was moved next to it.

The blonde Slytherin scowled but whispered, "Someone's been here, stay back."

Hermione glared at Draco while he raised his wand.

"It's probably your imagination, you know, coming from your arrogant, blonde head of yours," she grumbled while she took out her wand.

The Slytherin sighed and turned around to face her, "Hermione, get back."

The brunette just shrugged and pushed Draco aside. She cautiously walked into the room.

The blonde muttered something about Hermione being 'too damn stubborn for her own good' and 'it's going to catch up with her someday'.

Meanwhile, underneath Blaise, Ginny was trying hard not to laugh at her friend and Malfoy. The ebony haired Slytherin tried to silence her by covering her mouth with his hand. The red head scowled and narrowed her eyes, Blaise just replied with a smirk.

Hermione craned her neck over the couch to see if anybody was there. She could make out a shape on it, so she turned around to Draco and mouthed, "Someone's here!"

Draco nodded and started to back up, he was planning to jump over the couch and surprise the unknown person or persons.

The brunette had an expression on her face that just had 'What-the-hell-do-you-think-you're-doing' written all over it.

The Slytherin raised his hands up to prevent Hermione from saying anything, and then in full speed and ran over to the couch. Draco swiftly jumped over the couch and once he landed on his feet, he unknowingly pointed his wand at Blaise and Ginny. When he finally realized that it was them, he couldn't help but laugh uncontrollably.

"Who is it?" Hermione queried while walking around the couch to find her friend and Zabini in the most scandalous position.

Hermione dropped her jaw in shock, "G-Gi-GINNY?"

* * *

**Are you proud of me or WHAT! I worked all week to get this done and it ended up finished on Wednesday. And then I had a good amount of time to go back and edit. Yayyyy:) All right, so maybe there wasn't angst in this. I really thought that there would be, for goodness sakes, I tried to even add it on! But then it would have been an uber long chapter, and we wouldn't want that. :P **

**It's a definite that there will be angst in the next installment.**

**REVIEWERS: **

**Mrs. St. John Allerdyce : Thanks for the support :) Much appreciated.  
Seldom Darlin : Why thank you, I love it that you love this story!  
xridgegodessx : yeah... I know they fall apart, but then they got back together again really quickly!  
eddie1891 : YAY! New REVIEWER! Thanks, I didn't realize that my review thing wasn't set on being anonymous.  
rizahawkeye21 : This chapter was longer then the last one, don't you think? And if I didn't have them go around in circles, the story wouldn't be so interesting, would it.  
Puss in Green : YESSS ANOTHER NEW REVIEWER! Thanks for reading my story and telling me that it's really good!  
rowlinghermione :damn right it's good :P lmao****  
**

**All right, so that was six reviews for the last chapter. I guess it's not that bad? Anyways, THANKS FOR THE CONSTANT SUPPORT! **

**Until next time...**

**xXx33 susie**

**p.s. I have volleyball tryoutson August1, 2,and 3so ... I'm thinking the next chapter might be out on the seventh of August. BE READY!**


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"Hermione, I can explain!" the red head attempted to get up, but having a full grown teenage guy on top of her didn't exactly help.

"Oh, I think this here," he pointed at their position on the sofa, "as an explanation for me," Draco teased while sitting on his unmade bed.

When he noticed the covers strewn about, he narrowed his eyes, "You two… you didn't…"

"Don't worry, Malfoy. If you're thinking that we were shagging on your bed, we didn't. We had it here on your couch," Ginny replied sardonically while she glared at the blonde.

Draco scowled and was about to say something offensive to the red head, but Hermione immediately stopped him.

"Er-… you wouldn't mind getting of my friend would you?" the brunette witch said to Blaise while trying hard not to laugh.

Without a word, the Slytherin immediately pushed himself off from Ginny.

"We can explain," Blaise faintly smiled while running his hand through his mussed up ebony hair.

The blonde started snickering, so Hermione threw a glare at him to shut him up. Draco complied, but silently laughed at his friend.

"Actually, I think _we_ need an explanation with all this," Ginny motioned her hands towards Draco and Hermione, "not the other way around."

"Sorry Gin, but we asked you first," the brunette smirked.

"You're spending too much time with Malfoy," her friend joked, "I mean, look at that smirk! What did you do to her!"

"If you really want to know…" Draco drawled while suggestively looking at Blaise and Ginny.

The ebony Slytherin immediately stopped his friend. With a disgusted look on his face, he quickly said, "I really don't think we want to know."

He only shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and looked back at Hermione.

"Now, what's going on between the two of you?" the brunette raised a questioning brow.

"Absolutely nothing!" Ginny cried out but at the same time, Blaise had muttered, "Hopefully something?"

They immediately looked at each other in shock while the brunette had a knowing smile on her face. Even if she didn't realize anything about _her_ love life, she was positive that Ginny and Blaise had something going on between them.

"WELL, breakfast is awaiting," Draco jumped up from his bed and started to walk towards the door.

When nobody followed him, he sighed and leaned against the side of the door with his head tilted back. He was peeved that they weren't going to breakfast, but didn't say a thing.

Nobody said a word until Ginny broke the silence.

"I think Malfoy's right. Let's go get breakfast," she muttered.

The red haired witch walked past Blaise and Hermione and slid past Draco in the doorway.

Hermione was only joking around, but now she was just curious. Why was Ginny trying to avoid the topic of Blaise? Anyways, she also walked out behind her friend.

"So _now_ they leave because little Weaselette commands it? What do think I am, an insignificant cretin?" Draco had an astounded look on his face.

No one bothered to comment back.

The blonde Slytherin rolled his eyes and followed after Hermione.

Blaise sighed miserably and stumbled out the door.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Hermione caught up to Ginny outside in the halls. The red head didn't say a word while walking, so Hermione decided to not say anything either.

"Hermione, what am I going to do?" she immediately asked the brunette.

The other witch was surprised when her friend suddenly asked her a question.

"I … er- well…"

"Yeah, I know," was Ginny's reply while she stopped walking.

Hermione stopped as well and placed her hands on her hips.

"Ginny, what's really going on between you and Blaise?"

As if Ginny had heard something, she started to look around anxiously. When she realized that it was just her imagination, she sighed deeply, "This isn't exactly the right time to talk about it, Hermione."

Hermione rolled her eyes as the red head walked off without her. When Ginny was almost near the Great Hall, she turned around and faced where Hermione was standing.

"Are you coming?"

"In a sec, I'm going to wait for the guys," she told her friend while crossing her arms across her chest.

"Hermione, don't be like this!" Ginny said in an exasperated tone while dragging her feet towards the other witch.

"Be like what, exactly?" Hermione asked while narrowing her eyes.

Before Ginny could answer, she noticed Draco and Blaise walking towards them. So she kept her mouth shut.

"Ginny, be like what!" the brunette had a scowl on her face.

Hermione thought that Ginny was refusing to answer. So when Draco wrapped his arms around her waist, she jumped up from shock.

"Hello, luv," he mumbled into her hair.

The brunette laughed hesitantly and turned her head around to face him.

"Oh, it's you!" she feigned shock when she saw the familiar face.

Draco had a surprised expression on his face, "Who did you think it was?"

Hermione couldn't help but laughing at his reaction.

"WHAT!" he frowned.

"Stop that," she tapped his forehead with her finger.

He moved away from her touch and then grabbed Hermione's arms.

"You know if there's another guy, I don't have a choice but to go and beat the living shit out of him, right?" Draco growled.

"Draco!"

"So there _is_ another guy. I knew it!" the blonde immediately released his grasp on her and started to pace around the hallway.

"Draco, I was just kidding," Hermione couldn't help but laugh at him.

Instead of listening to what she had just said to him, Draco kept on pacing around in the hallway, trying to think of the most satanic ways to destroy the 'other guy'.

When he still didn't stop pacing around, she yelled, "I. WAS. JUST. KIDDING!"

He immediately stopped, "Oh."

"Why did you think that there was another guy?" Hermione looked flabbergasted.

Draco looked down at his feet and mumbled, "Because of Potter's infatuation with you."

"Sorry, didn't hear that."

"I SAID…. because of Potter's undying love for you."

Hermione scoffed, "Draco, Harry doesn't love me. I thought we were completely over that topic!"

"I'm just worried that one day, you're going to suddenly realize that choosing me over **him** was a huge mistake."

"Is that it?" the brunette was so angry that he still thought that her best friend loved her but then she couldn't help but smile.

"And you're going to leave me for him. There, that's it," he quickly muttered.

Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head side to side vigorously. Without saying a word, she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"You stupid prat, I won't leave you for him," she said into his chest.

Draco was incredulous at first but then became very pleased. He tilted Hermione's face up to him with his finger and softly kissed her.

While the couple was busy with each other, Blaise and Ginny had a disgusted look on their faces.

"Go get a room!" Ginny said to them.

"That's repulsive," Blaise muttered.

"I know," the red haired witch agreed immediately. "I love her to death, but that's the limit for me."

"We should just go and eat breakfast," he said while walking towards the Great Hall.

"Right behind you," Ginny ran after the Slytherin.

Draco and Hermione immediately broke apart and started to walk towards their friends.

"Ginny!"

"Zambini, what are you doing over there?"

Blaise and Ginny immediately stopped where they were and turned around slowly.

"What!" the ebony haired Slytherin asked.

"That was rude of you to just go off like that," Draco scolded.

"Yeah? Well, it's rude of **_you_** to start snogging with your girlfriend when we're right in front of you two."

"You had your chance with her!" Draco nodded his head towards Ginny who turned bright red.

"She's _not_ my girlfriend," he shot back, but with a hint of remorse in his voice.

Ginny had a queer expression on her face but didn't say a word.

"All right, mate. Whatever you say," Draco threw his hands up.

With that, the blonde placed an arm around Hermione's waist and started to head towards the Great Hall.

"I think there's something going on between the two of them," the brunette witch whispered to Draco.

"You'd have to be blind _and_ deaf to disagree with that," Draco replied.

Once the Draco and Hermione were up to the entrance to the Great Hall, they stopped. They looked back at Ginny and Blaise, who were walking with an uncomfortable silence around them and with a huge amount of space between them.

"It's so _obvious_ that they like each other!" Hermione exclaimed.

"It was so _obvious_ that we liked each other in our earlier years, but did we do anything? No, but it turned out okay… somehow. So we should just let them decide on what they are going to do."

The Gryffindor witch raised a brow and with a serious tone, she answered, "And what makes you think that I liked you in our-as you phrase it-our 'earlier years'?"

Draco was about to say something in protest, but when he realized that Hermione was being a devious witch once more, he muttered, "Cheeky."

Hermione smiled widely while the blonde Slytherin led her inside the Great Hall. Although some of the students were blatantly staring and gesturing towards the couple, Draco and Hermione simply ignored them.

"I'd love it if you came and sat next to me," Draco sighed and released his grasp on her waist but then held both of her hands in his.

They were standing right in the middle front. On one side, there was the Slytherin's table, and on the opposite it was the Gryffindor's table.

The brunette smirked and sarcastically replied, "Oh yes, and then all the Slytherins will be so chummy with me."

"It's worth a shot," he hopefully responded.

She scoffed, "Draco, you and I clearly know about the hostility between our Houses. I can't just sit over at your table and you can't sit at my table without something happening."

He thought for a moment and then seemed to have come up with an idea, "Hermione, I know what you mean, but I don't think that the Slytherin and Gryffindor House problems should interfere with our relationship. So before you start protesting and such, I'm going to tell you that I will sit at **_your_** table this morning."

"Bu-"

"Oh, right," Draco cut off the brunette, "and no 'buts'."

Draco turned Hermione around and placed his hands on her shoulders. He then started to lead her towards the Gryffindor's table. This definitely caused a few more people to stare at them, mainly the Gryffindors.

"What the hell is Malfoy doing?" Seamus asked Ron and Harry.

"Beats me, mate," Ron shrugged his shoulders with his mouth wide open.

Harry immediately looked down at his food with his fingers tightening around the fork that he was holding when he noticed that Hermione and Draco were coming towards them.

Meanwhile, when Blaise and Ginny walked through the entrance, everyone who wasn't looking at Draco and Hermione quickly noticed another odd 'couple'.

"Oh. my. god," Pansy whispered gravely at the Slytherin's table.

At the same time, Lavender and Parvarti, who were sitting next to Harry and Ron, said the exact same thing, except they were happier.

"Hey Neville," Lavender nudged the boy who sat next on the other side of her, "I thought you and Ginny were together."

"Don't worry," he whispered, "we are."

Parvarti leaned over and muttered in her friend's ear that they broke up. The other witch looked at Neville in sympathetically.

'_Poor Neville, he's still in love with her…'_ Lavender thought to herself.

Before the Ginny and Blaise separated to go to their table, the Slytherin grabbed the witch's hand.

Ginny looked down at his hand on hers and then looked back up.

"I-well… you see… did somebody ask you to the ball yet?" he blurted out while turning a violent shade of red.

"Blaise… I-"

"I mean, I would suspect that somebody else asked you already, but if nobody did, will you go to the ball with me?" he let go of her hand and then looked down at his shoes.

Ginny was so close to saying no to him, but she couldn't bring herself to.

"Sure," she sighed and then walked towards the Gryffindor's table.

Blaise's face immediately shot up, "Did you say yes!"

The red head turned around and nodded while biting her lower lip. The Slytherin brilliantly smiled and ambled towards his table.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Hermione," Harry whispered into her ear, "what the hell is Malfoy doing here?"

The brunette shot a glare at the green eyed wizard and sternly replied, "Harry, he's my boyfriend."

Without noticing that she had just called Draco her boyfriend, she continued on chastising her friend. Draco smiled at Hermione while she was arguing with Harry. Draco wasn't in the mood for eating anything, so he just grabbed orange juice and downed it all at once.

Ron, who was sitting right next to Draco, slowly edged away from him.

"Weasel, I'm not going to bite you," the blonde muttered with his back turned around Ron.

The red head immediately froze but he didn't exactly move back to his regular spot.

Draco rolled his eyes and shook his head side to side. He turned around to face Ron, "You should get used to Slytherins dating Gryffindors."

"I'm fine with you and 'Mione," Ron hesitantly replied.

The blonde sighed in frustration, "I meant Blaise and your sister, you twit."

Ron opened his mouth wide open.

Draco looked at him in disgust, "Close your mouth, Weasel. It's improper to gape at people like that."

The teenager did closed his mouth, but his eyes were practically bugging out of his eyes, "What do you mean by Ginny and Zabini!"

"Don't tell me you completely missed their little 'interaction'."

Ron quickly looked at his baby sister, who was sitting next to Lavender and Parvarti. His girlfriend and her friend were talking animatedly towards Ginny, but she didn't say anything. She was just playing with the food on her plate and looked quite dazed.

"She's going out with Neville," he muttered while running a hand through his hair.

"That **twit** is going out with her? I thought he'd never get a girlfriend."

"Well," Ron puffed out his chest and confidently replied, "They are."

"Right."

Draco quickly became bored talking to Ron, so he turned towards Hermione, placed an arm around her waist while pulling her closer to him, and then glared at the few Gryffindors who disapproved of him.

After breakfast was over, Draco and Hermione headed towards their classes as well as Harry and Ron.

The messy haired teenager glared behind the Slytherin's back. When Ron realized what his friend was doing, he placed a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Mate, you should really just let it slide."

"I'm surprised that out of all the people, you would be saying that. Do you not remember when Malfoy called you names and insulted your family!" Harry exclaimed.

"Yeah, but I let that slide by me when I realized that our 'Mione was happy. Although I'm not saying that Malfoy and I are suddenly going to become friends," Ron assured Harry.

Harry didn't say anything afterwards, but did think about what his friend had just said.

'_Maybe I'm not ready to let her go…' _he thought sorrowfully.

Meanwhile, Draco and Hermione were in a rather happy mood.

"I can't believe you sat at the Gryffindor's table in the morning," Hermione smiled.

"I can't believe that you're my girlfriend," Draco wrapped his arm around her waist once more.

Hermione looked down at his strong arm around her, "You know, you're a really affectionate person."

The Slytherin could only smile sheepishly, "What can I say? I'm deeply infatuated with you."

The brunette playfully hit Draco on the chest, "Infatuation leads to obsession and from what I hear, obsession is a bad thing."

"Really, how so?" the blonde leaned in and asked in a low and husky tone.

"Well, I don't know for sure-"

"So you're saying that you aren't obsessed with studying?" Draco raised a brow.

Hermione realized that this was a battle that couldn't be won, "Okay, fine. SOME kinds of obsession are bad, but not all."

"Then I say that it's a good thing."

"You are insufferable."

"Admit it, you love me," he tickled Hermione's side.

The witch squealed and twisted to get away from him.

"I'll stop as soon as you say that you love me," he explained in a humorous tone.

Hermione immediately shook her head side to side. Even though Draco had said that he wasn't going to stop tickling unless she told him that she loved him, he stopped.

"I thought that Malfoy's didn't give up so easily," she said.

"I'm tired," he gave a simple reply. _'No need to force her into saying that she loves me…'_

When they arrived to their classroom, Draco had to separate with Hermione. Unlike most of their classes, Potions had assigned seats. Unfortunately, Draco was seated next to Neville, but Blaise kept most of his company. Hermione was seated next to Pansy and Lavender. Pansy wasn't horrendously annoying as she had thought, but that didn't mean that Hermione was excited about sitting next to her during class.

"I'll see you after class, luv."

Draco kissed her on her mouth unabashedly in front of all of their classmates. Hermione's cheeks flushed from embarrassment while she headed towards her table. She sat down with a small smile on her face.

Lavender wasn't sitting at the table at the moment, but Pansy was.

"Does he make you happy?" Pansy asked Hermione.

Surprised that the Slytherin witch was talking to her, she only nodded.

"Then, you're a very lucky girl to have Draco as a boyfriend," the black haired witch smiled warmly.

"Thanks," Hermione meekly replied.

And when she thought Pansy wasn't listening, she murmured, "I know I am."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

After Hermione's last class was over, she quickly rushed out of the classroom. Draco was practically on the other side of the school, and she wanted some alone time.

'_Am I really _that_ lucky to have Draco as a boyfriend? **IS**_ _he even my boyfriend? Maybe I'm not ready for a relationship right now.'_

The brunette was confused, she knew she liked Draco, but even if she did like him, something felt missing.

Hermione walked slowly as soon as she was out of sight from the other students. She exhaled deeply and trudged along.

The witch looked outside one of the many large windows and noticed that the sky was rather cloudy and looked like it was about to rain. Soon enough, a flash of lightening filled the sky and only a few seconds later, the roar of thunder was heard throughout the school. After a few more lightening bolts and thunder, the pitter-patter of rain beating against the windows was heard.

"Hermione?" someone called from behind her.

It was Ginny.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked the red headed witch who ran across the hall to catch up with her.

"I should say the same thing to you," Ginny replied.

"I felt- feel… suffocated, so I decided that I was going to take a walk around the school," the brunette admitted to her friend.

"I think I understand why you feel that way. It's because of Malfoy, right? I mean, yeah I understand a few cuddling here and there, but he is overly affectionate."

"No… I just have a strange feeling of being claustrophobic right now," Hermione sighed.

Ginny thought for a moment and then said, "Since it's pouring outside and there's nothing to do, I think I have the perfect plan. Come on."

The red head took her friend by the arm and started to head back towards Hermione's room.

"Just as long as you promise me that you will answer every one of my questions truthfully," Hermione forced her to agree.

Ginny rolled her eyes and said, "Fine, whatever."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Hermione and Ginny were lying on top of Hermione's bed in the Room of Requirements. They were on their stomachs at the end of the bed.

"Okay, since you promised me that you would answer every-"

"I know, Hermione. What do you want to know, exactly?" Ginny queried.

"You and Zambini," she simply replied.

"What about me and him?"

Hermione let out an exasperated sigh, "What happened this morning?"

"Oh… right."

"So tell me before I **explode**, what happened between the two of you?" Hermione sat up and grabbed one of her red pillows and then hugged it to her chest.

"It's a really long story…" Ginny immediately hesitated on answering.

"You promised," the brunette sang.

The red head scowled and told a gist of what had happened. When she was through, Hermione started to laugh.

"Are you kidding me? Neville… Neville LONGBOTTOM attacked you!" she said while laughing.

"It's not funny! And he didn't attack me, he just-"

"Forced you against your will?" Hermione answered in a teasing voice.

"Hermione!"

"Sorry, Gin. It's just really hard to imagine Neville being like that. He's always so quiet and extremely conservative," the brunette answered gravely.

Ginny nodded in agreement and then replied, "But I really can't believe I went out with him, you know?"

"Don't worry, your knight that's shining in green and silver armor will come and rescue you," Hermione joked once more.

The red head rolled her eyes and muttered, "_This_ is why I don't tell you anything."

"Hmph."

"I still dote on you," Ginny said in a sweet voice.

Hermione rolled her eyes but smiled, "You are silly. Now, what else are we going to do now? You said you had a plan so what is it?"

"You haven't picked your costume yet, have you?" the red haired witch asked.

The other Gryffindor shook her head side to side, "I didn't have time."

"Then it's settled, we're going to pick out our dress, shoes, and accessories for the ball!" Ginny enthusiastically smiled.

Hermione had a concerned look on her face; she wasn't the exactly the type of person to enjoy shopping.

"Hermione, don't look at me like that!" the red head witch cried out.

"I'd be lying if I told you that I'm excited about this."

"Well you HAVE to get a dress, so just bear with me for about three or four hours."

"THREE OR FOUR HOURS!"

Ginny only smiled and brought out a catalogue from her book bag.

For the next two hours or so, the two Gryffindor girls were lying on Hermione's bed, picking what outfit they were going to wear. When both Hermione and Ginny picked a dress that they liked as well as the shoes and jewelry.

Hermione ordered a white duchess gown. There was a Juliet type of gown in the catalogue that they were looking at, but this one was what caught her eye the most. Ginny picked a pale blue ball gown with chiffon.

The next thirty minutes were used to find what shoes and jewelry they were going to wear. In the end, Hermione decided that instead of buying some expensive necklace and earrings, she would wear her heart shaped locket that her grandmother had given her and simple pearl earrings. Ginny, on the other hand was going for something elaborate. Her necklace was Victorian style filigree pendant that had a large amethyst stone in the middle.

Since the two of them spent more than they had imagined for dresses and accessories, they decided to wear silver ballet flats.

It only took fifteen minutes for the items to arrive. Ginny immediately slipped into her dress and stood in front of the mirror to admire it. But Hermione just placed the dress on her bed and smiled while she fingered the delicate lace on the sleeves.

"Hermione, aren't you going to try the dress on?" the red head asked while coming out of the bathroom and attempting to put her necklace on.

"I think I'm going to wait until the ball next week," Hermione answered while picking the dress up and placing it in her wardrobe. Ginny followed suit.

"Suit yourself. Well, do you think I look ravishing or what!" Ginny squealed while striking a pose in front of her friend.

The brunette raised an eyebrow, "Why? You want Blaise to _ravish_ you?"

Ginny immediately blushed brightly while denying the accusation, "Of course not!"

Hermione smirked and was about to contradict her, but decided to not say anything.

"All right Ginny, whatever you say."

Hermione told her friend to stay here for the night since it was late and that Neville might be lurking around somewhere. Ginny frowned when her friend was joking around with what had happened yesterday.

So, the two Gryffindor girls got ready for bed. They both clambered onto the bed after Hermione doused the lights out.

"Hermione?" Ginny whispered.

"Yeah?"

The red haired witch was about to say something about Blaise, but then bailed out on the last second.

"G'night!" she muttered quickly.

The other witch just laughed softly and replied, "Good night, Gin."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"YOU!" a hooded man screamed at an unknown person in a dark room.

"Yes, master?" a man walked to him and bowed down low.

"You will make sure that everything is prepared for the attack. Also, you must get everyone else ready before. And make sure that she doesn't suspect a thing

"Yes, master."

The figure disappeared into the darkness while his master chuckled menacingly.

"Hermione Granger, I warned you, but you didn't take enough precautions. Now I'm coming for you."

* * *

**OKAY, so maybe the dude doesn't really sound all that sinister right now, but ohhh you guys are in for treat when you find out who the person is! Sorry about the delay, I was really busy with .. yes.. VOLLEYBALL PRACTICES! YEAH! I made my freshmen team! I am soo happy :) **

**Anyways, if you want to find out what Hermione's and Ginny's things look like, comment me on my myspace, I'll give you the URL. My myspace is of krzybrunette92. All right? **

**By the way, I was wondering if we could put up lyrics in stories. I mean, other people's lyrics, but we give full credit to the band. Is that all right? I was so confused because I read this one story where the girl was spazzing out that she had put other people's lyrics so she started writing her own. I'd like to know about that since my other story that I'm writing has maybe a little lyrics in them. **

**rizahawkeye21 : this wasn't as long as the last chapter. I don't know how I made it so long for chap 15, everything just flowed out for me. hahaha  
Lain in the Wired : HEY NEW REVIEWER! Thanks, I'm really trying to get every mistake while I'm editing.  
Seldom Darlin : Every now and then we need something SCANDALOUS. Shhh! I forgot that Neville was Ginny's boyfriend until I read some of my older chapters. I had to make him weird.. he IS weird. lmao  
eddie1891 : I appreciate that you are going through a lot to review my story :) I hate it when fanfiction throws a hissy fit when I'm trying to login.  
dracoshott28: lol thanks... I thought the whole Ginny and Blaise was pretty funny in the ending. Can you just imagine Draco jumping over a couch. (sigh) I've never really liked Neville, so I made him weirder than usual. :P  
FitzNotDitz : hey there new reviewer! Yeah, just imagine hollister's jake or abercrombie cologne. yummy. Yeah, half-blood prince, I didn't really like it. I remember that I read something about Dumbledore dying in one fiction in the same EXACT way.. kind of scary if you think about it.  
rowlinghermione : mwahahha...yes maam, neville IS a perv. **

**Until later...**

**xXx33 susie**


End file.
